Trebouxiophyceae

Class Trebouxiophyceae View in CoL View at ENA

The class Trebouxiophyceae was described based on the genetic similarity of investigated strains as a group of algae with non-flagellated vegetative cells, unicellular, sarcinoid, or filamentous thalli ( Friedl 1995).

Phylogenetically the Trebouxiophyceae is the sister group to the Chlorophyceae and Ulvophyceae, and can be further subdivided into six main lineages: Trebouxiales , Watanabeales, Elliptochloris -clade, Prasiolales , Chlorellales and Microthamniales ( Leliaert et al. 2012; Lemieux et al. 2014; Darienko et al. 2016; Li et al. 2021). Members of most of these lineages (except for the order Microthamniales ) have been found to associate with lichens (e.g. Thüs et al. 2011; Škaloud et al. 2015). The nature of the relationships between these lineages remains unclear, and some studies even question the monophyly of the entire class ( Leliaert et al. 2012).