Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 25, 2026

Ancoracysta

Ancoracysta is a genus of eukaryotic microbes containing the species Ancoracysta twista, a predatory protist.

Last revised
Jun 25, 2026
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≈ 2 min
Length
408 w
Citations
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Source
Ancoracysta
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Clade: Disparia
Clade: Provora
Phylum: Nebulidia
Class: Alveidea
Order: Alveida
Family: Ancoracystidae
Genus: Ancoracysta
Janouškovec et al., 2017
Species:
A. twista
Binomial name
Ancoracysta twista
Janouškovec et al., 20171

Ancoracysta is a genus of eukaryotic microbes containing the species Ancoracysta twista, a predatory protist.1

Description

Ancoracysta twista was first described in November 2017 in Current Biology. It was found in a sample collected from the surface of a tropical aquarium brain coral. It actively feeds on Procryptobia sorokini, probably immobilising its prey through discharging a previously unknown type of extrusome named an ancoracyst.1

Genetic analysis shows that it is not closely related to any known lineage, but it may be most closely related to a grouping of haptophytes and centrohelids (Haptista). It is notable for having a gene-rich mitochondrial genome, the largest known outside the jakobids or Diphylleia rotans. Uniquely, it appears to contain both the nucleus-encoded holocytochrome c synthase system III and the mitochondrion-encoded bacterial cytochrome c maturation system I.1

Taxonomy

A 2018 study from Cavalier-Smith, Chao & Lewis created a new subphylum and subsequent lower taxonomic ranks for Ancoracysta twista. They also created a new combination for Colponema marisrubri (Mylnikov & Tikhonenkov, 2009), which was shown to be ultrastructurally similar and phylogenetically close to A. twista, thus renaming it A. marisrubri.2 This species was later placed into a new genus, Nebulomonas, and is now called Nebulomonas marisrubri.3

A 2022 study placed A. twista in a new supergroup Provora, closely related to other supergroups of Diaphoretickes such as Haptista, but no longer within Haptista.3

References

References

  1. Janouškovec, Jan; Tikhonenkov, Denis V.; Burki, Fabien; Howe, Alexis T.; Rohwer, Forest L.; Mylnikov, Alexander P.; Keeling, Patrick J. (2017). "A New Lineage of Eukaryotes Illuminates Early Mitochondrial Genome Reduction". Current Biology. 27 (23): 3717–3724.e5. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2017.10.051.
  2. Cavalier-Smith, T.; Chao, E. E.; Lewis, R. (17 April 2018), "Multigene phylogeny and cell evolution of chromist infrakingdom Rhizaria: contrasting cell organisation of sister phyla Cercozoa and Retaria", Protoplasma, 255 (5): 1517–1574, doi:10.1007/s00709-018-1241-1, PMC 6133090, PMID 29666938
  3. Tikhonenkov, Denis V.; Mikhailov, Kirill V.; Gawryluk, Ryan M. R.; Belyaev, Artem O.; Mathur, Varsha; Karpov, Sergey A.; Zagumyonnyi, Dmitry G.; Borodina, Anastasia S.; Prokina, Kristina I.; Mylnikov, Alexander P.; Aleoshin, Vladimir V.; Keeling, Patrick J. (2022). "Microbial predators form a new supergroup of eukaryotes". Nature. 612 (7941): 714–719. Bibcode:2022Natur.612..714T. doi:10.1038/s41586-022-05511-5. PMID 36477531. S2CID 254436650.
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