Quantitative assessment of morphological variation of six Pseudococcomyxa strains by geometric morphometric descriptors

We conducted a geometric morphometric analysis of the cellular shape in six Pseudococcomyxa strains that were isolated from different microhabitats (bark, needles, bare wood) and from different regions. The analysis was based on 14 landmarks, with 12 of them allowed to slide along their abscissae. The size differences did not correlate with ecological characteristics, but the shape descriptors analysis resulted in three distinguished groups: a pair of tropical strains, three strains isolated from spruce needles and a single strain from the fir bare wood. We propose that quantitative shape features of Coccomyxa-like algae could be used for their future phenotypic characterization.