Research
What are Protists?
Animals, plants, and fungi, and protists together make up the eukaryotes. While plants, animals and fungi are each ancient lineages that independently evolved multicellularity, protists are a diverse assemblage of lineages that are separated from our common ancestor by about 1.5 billion years of evolution. Protist diversity is deep, with differences in things like mitosis, mitochondrial genomes and morphology, and photosynthetic capability that are nearly identical across animals, plants, or fungi. Many or perhaps most protists live in symbiosis with bacteria or other eukaryotes, and symbiosis has played a pivotal role in eukaryotic evolution by providing us with mitochondria and plastids.PLASTID EVOLUTION
One of the most ancient and important symbioses of all is the establishment of plastids. Beginning over 1 billion years ago, when a host cell failed to digest its cyanobacterial food, an association between two single celled organisms gradually became a new, single organism. In the Gile lab we study the gene transfer and protein targeting that enabled the transition from symbiosis to new organism. We also study the loss of photosynthesis, which has happened many times in various lineages without loss of the plastid itself. Despite the importance of photosynthesis to life on earth, we do not fully understand how many times endosymbiosis has led to a new photosynthetic eukaryotic lineage, yet another topic of research in the Gile lab.TERMITE PROTIST DIVERSITY
Another fascinating symbiosis occurs between certain families of termites and the protists that live in their hindguts. The termites rely on these protists to help them digest wood, and in return, the protists have a safe microcosm where they have flourished, becoming larger and morphologically more complex over about 150 million years of coevolution. We apply microscopy and molecular and computational techniques to study these protists, with particular interests in evolutionary rates, speciation, phylogeny, and morphological convergence. Much of this work is geared towards reconstructing the coevolutionary history of termites and protists.people
Gillian Gile, PhD
- Assistant Professor i
Francesca de Martini, PhD
- Senior Research Specialist
Stephen Taerum, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow i
Gregory Gavelis, PhD
- Postdoctoral Fellow i
Viola Sanderlin
- PhD Student i
Xyonane Segovia
- 4+1 Master’s Student
Daniel Jasso-Selles
- Research Lab Aide
Mikaela Garcia
- Undergraduate Researcher
Erin Avilucea
- Undergraduate Researcher
Tina Piarowski
- Undergraduate Researcher
Bradley Bobbett
- Undergraduate Researcher
Keana Nguyen
- Undergraduate Researcher
Cameron Strauss
- Undergraduate Researcher
Maya Gaylor
- Undergraduate Researcher
Jordyn Shevat
- Undergraduate Researcher
Shaurya Aggarwal
- Undergraduate Researcher
Cherise Stotts
- Undergraduate Researcher
Lab Alumni
Trevor Merrell
- Undergraduate Researcher
Currently: Attending Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine, Las Cruces NM
Katalina Freeman
- Undergraduate Researcher
Evacuation Platoon Leader in the Regimental Support Squadron of the 2nd Cavalry Regiment, Germany
Join!
The Gile lab has openings for graduate students and postdocs to work on termite hindgut protists or plastid evolution. If you are interested in any of these topics, or have other ideas related to protists or symbiosis, please contact Dr. Gile for more information.
Publications
Taerum SJ, De Martini F, Liebig JR, Gile GH. Highly similar protist communities present in the hindguts of different species of Zootermopsis termites. Environmental Entomology 47:184-195.
Čepička I, Dolan MF, Gile GH. 2017. Parabasalia. In: Handbook of Protists, Archibald JM, Simpson AGB, Slamovits CH eds. Springer, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-32669-6_9-1.
Jasso-Selles DE, De Martini F, Freeman KD, Garcia MD, Merrell TL, Scheffrahn RH, Gile GH. 2017. The parabasalid symbiont community of Heterotermes aureus: Molecular and morphological characterization and description of four new species and reestablishment of the genus Cononympha. European Journal of Protistology 61:48-63.
Gile GH, James ER, Tai V, Harper JT, Merrell TL, Boscaro V, Husník F, Scheffrahn RH, Keeling PJ. 2017. New species of Spirotrichonympha from Reticulitermes and the relationships among genera in Spirotrichonymphea (Parabasalia). Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology, in press, doi: 10.1111/jeu.12447.
Dorrell RG, Gile GH, Méheust R, McCallum G, Klinger CM, Brillet-Guéguen L, Freeman KD, Richter DJ, Bapteste EP, Bowler C. 2017. Reconstruction of an ancestral plastid proteome reveals the origin and fate of complex plastid lineages. eLife 6:e23717.
Sierra R, Cañas-Duarte SJ, Burki F, Schwelm A, Fogelqvist J, Dixelius C, González-García LN, Gile GH, Slamovits CH, Klopp C, Restrepo S, Arzul I, and Pawlowski J. 2016. Evolutionary origins of rhizarian parasites. Molecular Biology and Evolution 33:980-983.
Gile GH, Moog D, Slamovits CH, Maier U-G, Archibald JM. 2015. Dual organellar targeting of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases in diatoms and cryptophytes. Genome Biology and Evolution 7:1728-1742.
Gile GH, James ER, Okamoto N, Carpenter KJ, Scheffrahn RH, Keeling PJ. 2015. Molecular evidence for the polyphyly of Macrotrichomonas (Parabasalia: Cristamonadea) and a proposal for Macrotrichomonoides n. gen. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 62:494-504.
Tai V, Gile GH, Pan J, James ER, Carpenter KJ, Scheffrahn RH, Keeling PJ. 2015. The phylogenetic position of Kofoidia loriculata (Parabasalia) and its implications for the evolution of the Cristamonadea. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 62:255-259.
Gile GH and Slamovits CH. 2014. Transcriptomic analysis reveals evidence for a cryptic plastid in the colpodellid Voromonas pontica, a close relative of chromerids and apicomplexan parasites. PLoS ONE 9:e96258.
Gile GH†, Carpenter KJ†, James ER, Scheffrahn RH, and Keeling PJ. 2013. Morphology and molecular phylogeny of Staurojoenina mulleri sp. nov. (Trichonymphida, Parabasalia) from the hindgut of the kalotermitid Neotermes jouteli. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 60:203-213. †Contributed equally.
Curtis BA, Tanifuji G, Burki F, Gruber A, Irimia M, Maruyama S, Arias MC, Ball SG, Gile GH, Hirakawa Y, Hopkins JF, Kuo A, Rensing SA, Schmutz J, Symeonidi A, Elias M, Eveleigh RJM, Herman EK, Klute MJ, Nakayama T, Oborník M, Reyes-Prieto A, Armbrust EV, Aves SJ, Beiko RG, Coutinho P, Dacks JB, Durnford DG, Fast NM, Green BR, Grisdale CJ, Hempel F, Henrissat B, Höppner MP, Ishida K-I, Kim E, Kořený L, Kroth PG, Liu Y, Malik S-B, Maier U-G, McRose D, Mock T, Neilson JAD, Onodera NT, Poole AM, Pritham EJ, Richards TA, Rocap G, Roy SW, Sarai C, Schaack S, Shirato S, Slamovits CH, Spencer DF, Suzuki S, Worden AZ, Zauner S, Barry K, Bell C, Bharti AK, Crow JA, Grimwood J, Kramer R, Lindquist E, Lucas S, Salamov S, McFadden GI, Lane CE, Keeling PJ, Gray MW, Grigoriev IV, Archibald JM. 2012. Algal genomes reveal evolutionary mosaicism and the fate of nucleomorphs. Nature 492:59-65.
Pawlowski J, Audic S, Adl S, Bass D, Belbahri L, Berney C, Bowser SS, Čepička I, Decelle J, Dunthorn M, Fiore-Donno A-M, Gile GH, Holzmann M, Jahn R, Jirků M, Keeling PJ, Kostka M, Kudryavtsev A, Lara E, Lukeš J, Mann DG, Mitchell EAD, Nitsche F, Romeralo M, Saunders GW, Simpson AGB, Smirnov AV, Spouge JL, Stern RF, Stoeck T, Zimmermann J, Schindel D, de Vargas C. 2012. CBOL Protist Working Group: Barcoding eukaryotic richness beyond the animal, plant and fungal kingdoms. PLoS Biology 10:e1001419.
Gile GH and Slamovits CH. 2012. Phylogenetic position of Lophomonas striata Bütschli (Parabasalia) from the hindgut of the cockroach Periplaneta americana. Protist 163:274-283.
Saldarriaga J†, Gile GH†, James ER, Horák A, Scheffrahn RH, and Keeling PJ. 2011. Morphology and molecular phylogeny of Pseudotrichonympha hertwigi and Pseudotrichonympha paulistana (Trichonymphea, Parabasalia) from neotropical rhinotermitids. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 58:487-496. †Contributed equally.
Gile GH, James ER, Scheffrahn RH, Carpenter KJ, and Keeling PJ. 2011. Molecular and morphological analysis of the Calonymphidae with a description of Calonympha chia sp. nov., Snyderella kirbyi sp. nov., Snyderella swezyae sp. nov., and Snyderella yamini sp. nov. International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology 61:2547-2558.
Cocquyt E, Gile GH, Leliaert F, Verbruggen H, Keeling PJ, and De Clerck O. 2010. Complex phylogenetic distribution of a non-canonical code in green algae. BMC Evolutionary Biology 10:e327.
Hirakawa Y, Gile GH, Ota S, Keeling PJ, and Ishida K. 2010. Characterization of periplastid compartment targeting signals in chlorarachniophytes. Molecular Biology and Evolution 27:1538-1545.
Gile GH†, Stern RF†, James ER, and Keeling PJ. 2010. DNA barcoding of chlorarachniophytes using nucleomorph ITS sequences. Journal of Phycology 46:743-750. †Contributed equally.
Gile GH, Novis PM, Cragg DS, Zuccarello GC, and Keeling PJ. 2009. The distribution of EF-1α, EFL, and a non-canonical genetic code in the Ulvophyceae: Discrete genetic characters support a consistent phylogenetic framework. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology 56:367-372.
Harper JT, Gile GH, James ER, Carpenter KJ, and Keeling PJ. 2009. The inadequacy of morphological concepts for species and genus delineation in microbial eukaryotes: An example from the parabasalian termite symbiont, Coronympha. PLoS ONE 4:e6577.
Gile GH, Faktorová D, Castlejohn CA, Burger G, Lang BF, Farmer MA, Lukeš J, and Keeling PJ. 2009. Distribution and phylogeny of EF-1α and EFL in Euglenozoa suggest an ancient introduction of EFL followed by differential loss. PLoS ONE 4:e51162.
Gile GH and Keeling PJ. 2008. Nucleus-encoded periplastid-targeted EFL in chlorarachniophytes. Molecular Biology and Evolution 25:1967-1977.
Gile GH, Patron NJ, and Keeling PJ. 2006. EFL GTPase in cryptomonads and the distribution of EFL and EF-1α in chromalveolates. Protist 157:435-444.
Gould SB, Sommer MS, Kroth PG, Gile GH, Keeling PJ, and Maier UG. 2006. Nucleus-to-nucleus gene transfer and protein retargeting into a remnant cytoplasm of cryptophytes and diatoms. Molecular Biology and Evolution 23:2413-2422.
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