This study determined the transcriptomes of eight Oedogoniales species, including six species from Oedogonium and two species from Oedocladium to conduct phylotranscriptomic and evolutionary analyses. 155,952 gene families and 192 single-copy orthogroups were detected. Phylotranscriptomic analyses based on single-copy orthogroups were conducted using supermatrix and coalescent-based approaches. The phylotranscriptomic analysis results revealed that Oedogonium is polyphyletic, and Oedocladium clustered with Oedogonium. Together with the transcriptomes of the OCC clade in the public database, the phylogenetic relationship of the three orders (Oedogoniales, Chaetophorales, Chaetopeltidales) is discussed. The non-synonymous (dN) to synonymous substitution (dS) ratios of single-copy orthogroups of the terrestrial Oedogoniales species using a branch model of phylogenetic analysis by maximum likelihood were estimated, which showed that 92 single-copy orthogroups were putative rapidly evolving genes. Gene Ontology enrichment and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway analyses results revealed that some of the rapidly evolving genes were associated with photosynthesis, implying that terrestrial Oedogoniales species experienced rapid evolution to adapt to terrestrial habitats. The phylogenetic results combined with evolutionary analyses suggest that the terrestrialization process of Oedogoniales may have occured more than once.

Chaetophora lobata is the type species of the polyphyletic genus Chaetophora. Clarification of its species identification, phylogenetic relationships, and plastome characteristics is helpful for taxonomic revisions and evolutionary studies of this genus. This study presents detailed information on morphology, culture, phylogenetic analysis, phylogenomics and comparative genomics of C. lobata. The complete morphological description and phylogenetic analyses based on nuclear rDNA and chloroplast protein-coding genes were robust for the identification of C. lobata. Moreover, de novo sequencing was used to determine the 222 213 bp chloroplast genome, which lacked inverted repeats as in all other members of the Chaetophorales. The chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) of C. lobata was found to be AT-rich (68.2%), consisting of 67 protein-coding genes, among which 62 genes were encoded on the plus strand and five genes were encoded on the minus strand with significant imbalance in distribution. Additionally, 28 tRNA genes, three rRNA genes, 16 introns and 18 putative open reading frames (ORFs) were annotated. Eight ORFs arranged in a row occupied about 18 kbp between psaA and atpI genes, and 16 introns (14 group I introns and 2 group II introns) were annotated in nine genes. Six genes contained nine intronic ORFs. Synteny and rearrangements analysis clearly showed the closest relationships between Chaetophora sp. and C. lobata. Substitution rate estimation indicated that the cpDNA of Chaetophorales was under purifying selection and most species were under similar evolutionary pressure. These findings can help advance research on the taxonomy and phylogeny of the order Chaetophorales.

Identification of the community structure of phytoplankton is an important link in studying the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. However, research on the community structure of phytoplankton in the Golmud area is very scarce at present. To explore the composition of phytoplankton in the Golmud area, eukaryotic phytoplankton and environmental parameters were sampled in September 2020. The composition and diversity of the eukaryotic phytoplankton community were determined by microscopic observation and Illumina high-throughput sequencing technology. The results showed that a total of 40 species of eukaryotic phytoplankton from 4 phyla were identified by microscopic observation, and 154 species of eukaryotic phytoplankton from 7 phyla were obtained by high-throughput sequencing, mainly Bacillariophyta and Chlorophyta. The dominant species were Dunaliella sp., Teleaulax sp., Parvodinium mixtum, and Lindavia radiosa. The eukaryotic phytoplankton density in summer was 0.09–12.08 × 10⁵ cells/L, the total biomass was 0.002–0.55 mg/L, and the concentration of chlorophyll-a was 0.00–0.91 μg/L. Multiple α diversity indices showed that the diversity of water in different salinities was in the order of freshwater > brackish > saline. The β diversity results showed that the eukaryotic phytoplankton community composition was more similar in water with the same salinity. The redundancy analysis results of water with different salinities showed that environmental factors susc as salinity, total phosphorus concentration, and dissolved oxygen affected the eukaryotic phytoplankton community structure, among which salinity had the greatest influence.