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Many corals form intimate symbioses with photosynthetic dinoflagellates in the family Symbiodiniaceae. These symbioses have been deeply studied, particularly in reef-forming corals. The complex microbial community that is associated with corals contains other members that have also been well characterized such as bacteria. However, our understanding of the coral holobiont and subsequently coral reef ecosystems is not complete if we do not take into consideration the microeukaryotes like protists and fungi. Microeukaryotes are currently the greatest enigma within the coral microbiome. Only a handful of them have been characterized, very few have been cultured and even less have genomes available. This is a reflection of a smaller community of scientists working on this particular group of organisms when compared with bacteria or Symbiodiniaceae, but also of the many technical challenges that we face when trying to study microeukaryotes. Recent advances in the use of metabarcoding are revealing the importance of microeukaryotes in corals in terms of abundance and presence, with notable examples being the green algae Ostreobium and the apicomplexans Corallicolidae. We believe that it is timely and necessary to present what we know so far about coral microeukaryotes before the expected flow of high-throughput metabarcoding studies exploring the microeukaryotic fraction of the coral microbiome.

Mobile phones have been used in combination with point of care (PoC) devices for over a decade now. However, their use seems restricted to the detection of sensing events using the video and camera functions. In contrast, the complementary ability to use mobile phones to power such PoC devices has been largely unexplored. This work demonstrates the proof-of-principle that a smartphone can be used to both power and analyze an electrochemiluminescence (ECL) detection system. A printed device is presented featuring an electrochemical cell connected in series to a rectenna that is able to use the Near Field Communication (NFC, 13.56 MHz) signal to provide the energy needed to generate ECL from Ru(bpy)

BackgroundPeru is the worst affected country by the COVID-19 pandemic showing the world highest mortality rate, thus triggering an increased mental health burden. Nevertheless, there are few population-based epidemiologic surveys of mental disorders in Peru; Therefore, nationally representative research is needed to understand the underlying population-based mental health burden and identify unmet care needs.ObjectiveThe present study aims to estimate the prevalence and patterns of psychiatric disorders, mental health service use, and unmet mental health care needsMethodsThis cross-sectional study will collect information from a multistage random sample of 19,500 households. A child, an adolescent, an adult, and an older adult will be interviewed in the household. Trained staff will conduct face-to-face diagnostic interviews via the Preschool Age Psychiatric Assessment, the Child and Adolescent Psychiatric Assessment, the WHO’s Composite International Diagnostic Interview, and the Alzheimer Disease 8 Scale. In addition, descriptive and inferential analysis for complex sampling will be performed to estimate the prevalence and correlates.Ethics and disseminationIRB will approve the research protocol before the commencement of the study. Only respondents who signed their informed consents or assents will participate in the study; The parent or guardian will sign the consent for the participation of preschool children. The research findings will be disseminated in peer-reviewed publications, scientific reports, and presentations at national, and international meetings. In addition, de-identified data and study results will be posted on the Peruvian National Institute of Mental Health (PNIMH) website to be freely available to policymakers, researchers, and the general public.Strengths and LimitationsThis will be the first national survey on mental health and services use with a large probabilistic sample size, allowing to estimate the prevalence of psychiatric disorders and service use for the rural and urban areas of each of the 25 Peruvian regions.At the national level, this survey will have enough power to estimate the prevalence of rare psychiatric disorders with a prevalence closest to one percent.Researchers aim to conduct a second interview among the participants after at least one year of performing the first evaluation to estimate the incidence of psychiatric disorders.Researchers are advocating among the Peruvian Ministry of Economics and Finance officers to conduct a national survey each year to evaluate the impact of mental health policies via the analysis of trends.The principal limitation of this study is its cross-sectional design which does not allow to infer the temporality of associations.

The octocoralParamuricea clavatais an ecosystem architect of the Mediterranean temperate reefs that is currently threatened by episodic mass mortality events related to global warming. Local average thermal regimes nor recent thermal history have been shown to play a significant role in population thermotolerance in this species. The microbiome, however, may play an active role in the thermal stress susceptibility of corals, potentially holding the answer as to why corals show differential sensitivity to heat-stress. To investigate this, the prokaryotic and eukaryotic microbiome ofP. clavatacollected from around the Mediterranean was characterized before experimental heat-stress to determine if its microbial composition influences the thermal response of the holobiont. We found that the prokaryotic community was not informative in predicting the thermal susceptibility ofP. clavata. On the other hand, members ofP. clavata’smicroeukaryotic community were significantly correlated with thermal stress sensitivity. Syndiniales from theDino-Group I Clade 1were significantly enriched in thermally resistant corals, while the apicomplexan corallicolids were significantly enriched in thermally susceptible corals. Corallicolids are associated with 70% of coral genera around the world, yet the ecological role of this general anthozoan symbiont has yet to be determined. We hypothesize thatP. clavatamortality following heat-stress may be caused by a shift from apparent commensalism to parasitism in the corallicolid-coral host relationship driven by the added stress. Our results show the potential importance of corallicolids and the rest of the microeukaryotic community of corals to understanding thermal stress response in corals and provides a useful tool to guide conservation efforts and future research into coral-associated microeukaryotes.

The increasing awareness of the importance of water for human and environmental health has prompted the need for developing fast, user-friendly and cost-effective analytical approaches for quality control and management. This work reports the fabrication and analytical assessment of a very simple sample-to-result electrochemical sensor for discrete and precise measurements of dissolved chemical oxygen demand (COD) in water samples of urban wastewater treatment plants (UWWTP). The device is fabricated by screen printing and shows a three-electrode cell configuration including a working electrode made of a composite material comprising a porous carbon matrix and copper nanoparticles, synthesized by a customized one-pot sol-gel process. The key feature of this device is the implementation of a paper disk loaded with sodium hydroxide covering the electrochemical cell area that allows sample filtering and pH conditioning. Thus, analytical measurements are carried out by casting a 20 µL sample drop without requiring any further user intervention. The overall sensor fabrication process can be scaled up for cost-effective mass manufacturing. The feasibility and performance of this integrated device are first evaluated using glucose as a standard analyte. A linear range up to 400 mg L− 1 O2 and a limit of detection of around 26 mg L− 1 O2 is achieved, this being well below the EU legal concentration limit of 125 mg L− 1 set for effluents of UWWTPs. Three real samples are analyzed in the lab as well as on-site and COD sensor values are in agreement with those obtained with the standard dichromate method at a certified laboratory, within the error limits. This miniaturized novel sensor platform greatly simplifies the standard analytical procedure for measuring COD, facilitating rapid decentralized analysis for precise control of urban wastewater treatment., This work was partially funded by Generalitat de Catalunya, grants numbers 2017 SGR 1771 and 2017 SGR 765, and the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Severo Ochoa programme for Centers of Excellence in R&D (CEX2019-000917-S). We are very grateful to Antoni Baldi, Mercè Baldi and Josefina Torán for their help and for kindly providing us with the real water samples. The Chinese Scholarship Council fellowship (201806220063) to W.C. Duan is also acknowledged. WD is enrolled in the Materials Science PhD Program of the UAB (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona). The X-ray diffraction and thermal analysis laboratories of the ICMAB scientific services contributed to this work and are acknowledged. This work used the Spanish ICTS Network MICRONANOFABS that was partly supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation., With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).

Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) has been causing significant whole colony mortality on reefs in Florida and the Caribbean. The cause of SCTLD remains unknown, with limited concurrence of SCTLD-associated bacteria among studies. We conducted a meta-analysis of SSU 16S ribosomal RNA gene datasets generated by 16 field and laboratory SCTLD studies to find consistent bacteria associated with SCTLD across disease zones (vulnerable, endemic, and epidemic), coral species, coral compartments (mucus, tissue, and skeleton), and disease states (apparently healthy colony tissue [AH], and unaffected [DU] and lesion [DL] tissue from diseased colonies). We also evaluated bacteria in seawater and sediment, which may be sources of SCTLD transmission. Although AH colonies in endemic and epidemic zones harbor bacteria associated with SCTLD lesions, and aquaria and field samples had distinct microbial compositions, there were still clear differences in the microbial composition among AH, DU, and DL in the combined dataset. Alpha diversity between AH and DL was not different; however, DU showed increased alpha diversity compared to AH, indicating that, prior to lesion formation, corals may undergo a disturbance to the microbiome. This disturbance may be driven by Flavobacteriales, which were especially enriched in DU. While Rhodobacterales and Peptostreptococcales-Tissierellales were prominent in structuring microbial interactions in DL. Peptostreptococcales-Tissierellales specifically may contribute to lesion progression through an alpha-toxin. We provide a consensus of SCTLD-associated bacteria both prior to and during lesion progression and identify how these taxa vary across studies, coral species, coral compartments, seawater, and sediment.

Oral presentation. 19th International Bryozoological Association conference, Dublin 2022., Ocean warming and acidification may compromise calcifying species. However, their combined and long-term effects in bryozoans remain poorly understood. Here we compare the proportion of cover, skeletal structure and the microbiome composition of Pentapora ottomuelleriana population from a volcanic CO2 vent and a population living at ambient pH with lack of venting activity. The proportion of cover decreased from 2016 to 2020 at both sites but the trend was more negative at the CO2 vent site. The increasing seawater temperature in the last decade combined with acidified conditions have accelerated mortality rates at the CO2 vent site compared to those at ambient pH site, also shifting the microbiome towards the dominance of anaerobic microbial taxa. We also observed an increase of carbonate skeleton thickness and a decrease of zooid length in colonies from the CO2 vent site. Although these changes in the calcification of bryozoan individuals could be explained by the energy reallocation to calcification in periods of stress, they are not sufficient to overcome the synergistic impacts of both warming and acidification.

Within microeukaryotes, genetic variation and functional variation sometimes accumulate more quickly than morphological differences. To understand the evolutionary history and ecology of such lineages, it is key to examine diversity at multiple levels of organization. In the dinoflagellate family Symbiodiniaceae, which can form endosymbioses with cnidarians (e.g., corals, octocorals, sea anemones, jellyfish), other marine invertebrates (e.g., sponges, molluscs, flatworms), and protists (e.g., foraminifera), molecular data have been used extensively over the past three decades to describe phenotypes and to make evolutionary and ecological inferences. Despite advances in Symbiodiniaceae genomics, a lack of consensus among researchers with respect to interpreting genetic data has slowed progress in the field and acted as a barrier to reconciling observations. Here, we identify key challenges regarding the assessment and interpretation of Symbiodiniaceae genetic diversity across three levels: species, populations, and communities. We summarize areas of agreement and highlight techniques and approaches that are broadly accepted. In areas where debate remains, we identify unresolved issues and discuss technologies and approaches that can help to fill knowledge gaps related to genetic and phenotypic diversity. We also discuss ways to stimulate progress, in particular by fostering a more inclusive and collaborative research community. We hope that this perspective will inspire and accelerate coral reef science by serving as a resource to those designing experiments, publishing research, and applying for funding related to Symbiodiniaceae and their symbiotic partnerships.

Introduction. The adequate allocation and equitable distribution of human resources are essential for the health system›s performance, especially at the first level of care. The Rural and Urban Marginal Service Program (SERUMS) is the primary strategy developed by the Peruvian State for this purpose. Objective. To describe the effect of the number of doctors, nurses, and midwives of the SERUMS Program on the equity of the distribution of human resources at the primary care level. Methods. Observational, descriptive, and cross-sectional study of a census nature based on the National Registry of Health Personnel - INFORHUS, August 2019. Staffing indicators were applied, it was verified if there is a difference between the percentage distribution of SERUMS and non-SERUMS professionals, density (professionals per 10 000 inhabitants at the departmental level, poverty quintile, and rurality), and Gini coefficients (departmental) were calculated. Results. The population consisted of 6037 SERUMS professionals and 27 495 non-SERUMS professionals. The SERUMS Program significantly increased the number and density of professionals in almost all departments. In 5 regions, SERUMS professionals represented more than 50% of the workforce. Significant increases in the number of doctors were found in the poverty quintile and rural areas analysis. According to the Gini coefficients, the SERUMS program showed greater inequality in its distribution in favor of the most vulnerable populations. Conclusions. The SERUMS Program significantly increases the number and density of healthcare professionals, especially in the poorest districts of Peru., Introducción. La adecuada dotación y distribución con equidad de recursos humanos son fundamentales para el desempeño del sistema de salud, especialmente en el primer nivel de atención. El Programa Servicio Rural y Urbano Marginal (SERUMS) es la principal estrategia desarrollada por el Estado peruano para este fin. Objetivo. Describir el efecto de la dotación de médicos, enfermeros y obstetras del Programa SERUMS en la equidad de la distribución de recursos humanos en el primer nivel de atención. Métodos. Estudio observacional, descriptivo y transversal, de carácter censal con base en el Registro Nacional de Personal de Salud – INFORHUS, agosto 2019. Se aplicó indicadores de dotación, se verificó si existe diferencia entre la distribución porcentual de profesionales SERUMS y no SERUMS, se calculó la densidad (profesionales/10 000 hab. a nivel departamental, quintil de pobreza y ruralidad) y coeficientes de Gini (departamental). Resultados. La población estuvo constituida por 6037 profesionales SERUMS y 27 495 no SERUMS. El Programa SERUMS incrementó de manera importante la dotación y densidad de profesionales en casi todas las regiones del país. En 5 regiones los profesionales SERUMS representaron más del 50% de la dotación. Incrementos importantes se encontraron en el análisis por quintil de pobreza y en el ámbito rural, especialmente en la dotación de médicos. El programa SERUMS evidenció una mayor desigualdad en su distribución, según los coeficientes de Gini, a favor de las poblaciones más vulnerables. Conclusiones. El Programa SERUMS incrementa de manera importante la dotación y densidad de profesionales, especialmente en los distritos más pobres del Perú.

Wearable electrochemical sensors represent a point of convergence between lab-on-a-chip technologies, advanced microelectronics and connected intelligence. These three pillars establish data flow from analytes present in body fluids, to the Cloud infrastructures towards next-generation personal healthcare and wellness. The design of electrode-embedded interfacing instrumentation in advanced CMOS technology nodes offer a number of challenges spanning from ultra-low power operation, small footprint, sufficient general purpose operability, and compatibility with advanced CMOS technology nodes. This paper presents a low-power frontend with extended amperometric dynamic range and wide potentiostatic range for electrochemical transducers with Delta-Sigma (ΔΣ) digital output. The second-order single-bit continuous-time ΔΣ modulator architecture reuses the electrochemical cell dynamic characteristics for quantization noise shaping, while the differential potentiostat enables 1.8 V pp of control range under single 1.2-V supply. The proposed frontend has been integrated in TSMC 65-nm CMOS technology occupying 0.07 mm 2 . From electrical and electrochemical tests, the micro potentiostat achieves a Signal-to-Distortion-and-Noise of 80 dB with 15-μW power consumption and a combined multi-scale dynamic range of 105 dB.

A single-step electrochemical liquid-liquid-solid (ec-LLS) deposition route is developed for growing nanowire-based Ge-Sn nanostructures with tailored morphologies and compositions. Composite films, submicron fibers, nanowires, and also three-dimensional (3D) hierarchical structures are fabricated in the same electrolyte, simply by varying the electrodeposition current density. COMSOL simulations indicate that the current density is able to generate sufficient Joule heating to activate the ec-LLS growth mode. A concomitant reduction of Ge and Sn ions during Sn-doped Ge nanowire growth results in the formation of multicomponent heterostructures comprising non-equilibrium GexSn1-x, pure Sn, and Sn-rich amorphous phases. The proposed deposition technique enables the fabrication of high mass loading electrodes with enhanced Li storage properties. In particular, a 3D hierarchical structure composed of 38 wt % Ge delivers a specific capacity of 938 mA h g-1 after 400 cycles, corresponding to a high areal capacity of 4.95 mA h cm-2. We believe that the present study could be considered as a low-cost procedure for the industrial fabrication of anode materials for high-performance Li-ion battery applications., Spanish MICINN funded this work under grants MAT2017-91404-EXP, RTI2018-096273-B-I00, and RTI2018-097753-B-I00 with FEDER cofunding and through the “Severo Ochoa” Programme for Centres of Excellence in R&D (CEX2019-000917-S), and a grant was provided by Iranian Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology., With funding from the Spanish government through the ‘Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence’ accreditation (CEX2019-000917-S).

Materials sustainability is becoming increasingly relevant in every developed technology and, consequently, environmentally friendly solid polymer electrolytes (SPEs) based on gellan gum and different quantities of ionic liquid (IL) 1- Ethyl-3-methyl-imidazolium-thiocyanate [Emim][SCN] have been prepared and applied in electrochromic devices (ECDs). The addition of the IL does not affect the crystalline phase of gellan gum and the samples show a compact morphology, surface uniformity, no phase separation and good distribution of the IL within the carrageenan matrix. The developed SPE are thermally stable up to ~ 100 ºC and show suitable mechanical properties. The most concentrated sample (39 wt.% IL content) reaches a maximum ionic conductivity value of 6.010–3 S cm–1 and 1.810–2 S cm–1 at 30 ºC and 90 ºC, respectively. The electrochromic device (ECD) was fabricated with poly(3,4- ethylenedioxythiophene) polystyrene sulfonate (PEDOT:PSS) as working electrode and the developed SPE was compared with an aqueous 0.1 M KNO3 solution. The electrochromic performance of the electrolyte was assessed in terms of spectroelectrochemistry, demonstrating a fully flexible ECD operating at voltages below 1.0 V. This novel electrolyte opens the door to the preparation of high performance sustainable ECD., Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT): Strategic Funding grants UID/FIS/04650/2021, UID/CTM/50025/2021, and UID/QUI/0686/2021; projects PTDC/FIS-MAC/28157/2017 and POCI-01-0247-FEDER-046985. R. G. and C. M. C. thank the FCT for the contracts under the Stimulus of Scientific Employment: CEECIND/00833/2017 and 2020.04028 CEECIND, respectively. Basque Government for funding under the ELKARTEK program; Basque University System Research Groups, IT-1290-19 and the University of the Basque Country (GIU18/197). L. C. -A. thanks the University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU) for the doctoral grant PIFI20/04

Screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) are enjoying increasing popularity in different electrochemistry areas, from electroanalysis to energy storage and power generation. Highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), an ordered form of graphite, displays excellent electrochemical properties. However, its application in screen-printed electrodes has remained elusive. In this work, we present a straightforward laser-based process to selectively transform, in ambient conditions, the surface of conventional SPCEs into highly homogeneous HOPG. Energy densities between 6.8 and 7.7 mJ cm(-2) result in a binder-free, high-purity HOPG surface with very fast electron transfer rates. The electrode transformation to HOPG has been followed by SEM, Raman spectroscopy and XPS. Cyclic voltammetry of model systems ferrocyanide, ferrocenecarboxylic acid, dopamine and hydroquinone has been used to determine variations in electrode kinetics (from 50% increase for ferrocenecarboxylic acid, up to ca. 2 orders of magnitude for ferrocyanide and dopamine) and interfacial capacitance (from 40 up to 220 mu F cm(-2)). Finally, differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) has been used to demonstrate the ability of these electrodes to detect dopamine in the presence of an excess amount of ascorbic acid. The authors are grateful for the technical and human support provided by SGIker of UPV/EHU and European funding (ERDF and ESF). We acknowledge funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 Programme for Research, ICT-02-2018 - Flexible and Wearable Electronics, Grant agreement no. 825339 - WEARPLEX. Lia Campos-Arias thanks the University of Basque Country (UPV/EHU) for doctoral grant PIFI20/04. Project number PID2020-113154RB-C22 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation is also gratefully acknowledged.

The development of conformable electronic systems’ focuses on the multifunctional smart materials transform areas from the automotive industry to biomedicine, based on improved integration and advanced functionalities. In-mold electronics (IME) combines thermoforming, injection molding, and printed electronics, resulting in sensing structural parts integrated into smart surfaces, communicating with computer systems, and enabling advanced experiences in terms of human-machine interaction. Contrary to flexible electronics, designed as bend conductors around a single axis, thermoformed electronics allow deformations in the three-axial directions for different geometries. Herein, a 2D screen-printed pattern using conductive silver ink thermoformed into a spherical surface suitable for 3D gesture recognition is reported. The mechanical deformation of the high-impact polystyrene sheet (HIPS) and polyethylene terephthalate-glycol (PETG) substrates during the thermoforming process of the electrical circuit is characterized experimentally. The electrical resistance changes through the circuit in the stages of the fabrication process due the thickness decrease and the propagation of the small cracks. Both evaluations contribute to a better understanding of the performance of the materials when subject to the IME process. Validation of the 3D gesture recognition operation is carried out, demonstrating their full operability, as well as the possibilities that the combination of technologies allows., The authors thank FEDER funds through the COMPETE 2020 Programme and National Funds through FCT -Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology under Strategic Funding UID/FIS/04650/2021 and grant SFRH/BPD/110914/2015 (P.C.). V. C. thanks for the FCT (Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia) and for the junior researcher contract (DL57/2016). Financial support from the Basque Government Industry Department under the ELKARTEK and HAZITEK programs are also acknowledged. F.J.d.C. gratefully acknowledges funding through project number PID2020-113154RB-C22 from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation.

7 pages, 2 figures, supporting information https://doi.org/10.1111/1462-2920.14733, The application of metabarcoding to study animal‐associated microeukaryotes has been restricted because the universal barcode used to study microeukaryotic ecology and distribution in the environment, the Small Subunit of the Ribosomal RNA gene (18S rRNA), is also present in the host. As a result, when host‐associated microbial eukaryotes are analysed by metabarcoding, the reads tend to be dominated by host sequences. We have done an in silico validation against the SILVA 18S rRNA database of a non‐metazoan primer set (primers that are biased against the metazoan 18S rRNA) that recovers only 2.6% of all the metazoan sequences, while recovering most of the other eukaryotes (80.4%). Among metazoans, the non‐metazoan primers are predicted to amplify 74% of Porifera sequences, 4% of Ctenophora, and 15% of Cnidaria, while amplifying almost no sequences within Bilateria. In vivo, these non‐metazoan primers reduce significantly the animal signal from coral and human samples, and when compared against universal primers provide at worst a 2‐fold decrease in the number of metazoan reads and at best a 2800‐fold decrease. This easy, inexpensive, and near‐universal method for the study of animal‐associated microeukaryotes diversity will contribute to a better understanding of the microbiome, This work was funded by a grant from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (MOP‐42517). JdC was supported by a grant from the Tula Foundation to the Centre for Microbial Biodiversity and Evolution and the Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship FP7‐PEOPLE‐2012‐IOF‐331450 CAARL

Electrochromic sensors are electrochemical devices exploiting colour changes as a means to simplify device construction and instrumentation requirements. Despite their advantages, electrochromic sensors have begun to emerge only recently. Mainly based on the works appeared in the literature over the past 2 years, we describe the construction and operation of these devices. A simple framework is proposed to understand and classify these devices more easily. This is based on the sensor architecture, their power source, and how information is displayed. Despite their youth, electrochromic sensors are already demonstrated in a number of applications, mostly related to health and point of care devices.

Apicomplexa is a group of obligate intracellular parasites that includes the causative agents of human diseases such as malaria and toxoplasmosis. Apicomplexans evolved from free-living phototrophic ancestors, but how this transition to parasitism occurred remains unknown. One potential clue lies in coral reefs, of which environmental DNA surveys have uncovered several lineages of uncharacterized basally branching apicomplexans1,2. Reef-building corals have a well-studied symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic Symbiodiniaceae dinoflagellates (for example, Symbiodinium3), but the identification of other key microbial symbionts of corals has proven to be challenging4,5. Here we use community surveys, genomics and microscopy analyses to identify an apicomplexan lineage—which we informally name ‘corallicolids’—that was found at a high prevalence (over 80% of samples, 70% of genera) across all major groups of corals. Corallicolids were the second most abundant coral-associated microeukaryotes after the Symbiodiniaceae, and are therefore core members of the coral microbiome. In situ fluorescence and electron microscopy confirmed that corallicolids live intracellularly within the tissues of the coral gastric cavity, and that they possess apicomplexan ultrastructural features. We sequenced the genome of the corallicolid plastid, which lacked all genes for photosystem proteins; this indicates that corallicolids probably contain a non-photosynthetic plastid (an apicoplast6). However, the corallicolid plastid differs from all other known apicoplasts because it retains the four ancestral genes that are involved in chlorophyll biosynthesis. Corallicolids thus share characteristics with both their parasitic and their free-living relatives, which suggests that they are evolutionary intermediates and implies the existence of a unique biochemistry during the transition from phototrophy to parasitism. A newly identified lineage of apicomplexans, named corallicolids, are intracellular symbionts of many coral species, and possesses a plastid that retains genes for chlorophyll biosynthesis despite lacking photosystem genes.

Cristamonadea is a large class of parabasalian protists that reside in the hindguts of wood-feeding insects, where they play an essential role in the digestion of lignocellulose. This group of symbionts boasts an impressive array of complex morphological characteristics, many of which have evolved multiple times independently. However, their diversity is understudied and molecular data remain scarce. Here we describe seven new species of cristamonad symbionts from Comatermes, Calcaritermes, and Rugitermes termites from Peru and Ecuador. To classify these new species, we examined cells by light and scanning electron microscopy, sequenced the symbiont small subunit ribosomal RNA (rRNA) genes, and carried out barcoding of the mitochondrial large subunit rRNA gene of the hosts to confirm host identification. Based on these data, five of the symbionts characterized here represent new species within described genera: Devescovina sapara n. sp., Devescovina aymara n. sp., Macrotrichomonas ashaninka n. sp., Macrotrichomonas secoya n. sp., and Macrotrichomonas yanesha n. sp. Additionally, two symbionts with overall morphological characteristics similar to the poorly-studied and probably polyphyletic ‘joeniid’ Parabasalia are classified in a new genus Runanympha n. gen.: Runanympha illapa n. sp., and Runanympha pacha n. sp., This work was supported by a grant from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (RGPIN-2014-03994). JdC, VB, AK, EH and MK were supported by grants to the Centre for Microbial Diversity and Evolution from the Tula Foundation, and NATI was supported by a fellowship from NSERC. JdC was supported by a Marie Curie International Outgoing Fellowship Grant (FP7-PEOPLE-2012-IOF-331450 CAARL).