Repeated evolution of uniparental reproduction in Sellaphora (Bacillariophyceae)

However, auxospores are sometimes produced by single unpaired cells, i.e. uniparentally. We examined the nature of uniparental auxosporulation in Sellaphora and used a two-gene dataset to study phylogenetic relationships between uniparental and biparental Sellaphora demes and species; we tested whether uniparental reproduction has evolved once or repeatedly in the genus.

In at least two of the uniparental demes auxosporulation occurred through autogamy (i.e. intra-tetrad mating within an undivided cell). Maximum likelihood phylogenies indicated four lineages of uniparental Sellaphora and significance tests of alternative topologies, in which combinations of uniparental Sellaphora were constrained to be monophyletic, coupled with likelihood reconstruction of ancestral character states, led to rejection of the hypothesis that uniparental auxosporulation evolved only once in the genus.