Comparison of Molecular Biological Techniques (RAPD, ARDRA and SSrRNA Gene Sequencing) on the Phylogenetic Relationships of Lower Taxa within Spirotrichous Ciliates

The evolutionary relationships of seven spirotrichous ciliates (3 stichotrichs: Oxytricha saltans, O. Ferruginea, Stylonychia mytilus; 4 hypotrichs: Uronychia transfuga, Diophrys appendiculata, Aspidisca steini, Euplotes vannus) inferred from the SSrRNA (small subunit rRNA) gene sequences and the polymorphic patterns of RAPD (random amplified polymorphic DNA) and ARDRA (amplified ribosomal DNA restriction analyses) fingerprinting are constructed. Compared with that of morphometric characters, the dendrograms from SSrRNA gene using three different calculation methods (distance matrix, maximum-parsimony, and UPGMA) agree with the morphological division into two clades, Oxytricha - Stylonychia and Uronychia - Diophrys - Aspidisca - Euplotes, though the branching orders within the hypotrichous ciliates are slightly different from morphometric analyses.