What can a tiny marine alga that resembles a little brown ball tell scientists about how different types of organisms are related on the family tree of all life on Earth?

Quite a bit, it turns out, when it stands at a critical junction where one form of life can provide a clear evolutionary connection between otherwise distant cousins, according to John Logsdon (left), associate professor of biology in the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts and Sciences.

In the Feb. 21 issue of the journal Nature, Logsdon and his colleagues announced the discovery of a new type of eukaryotic algae that provides just such a bridge between two previously thought-to-be separate branches on the tree of life. Called Chromera velia, the organism is now the closest-known photosynthetic relative to apicomplexan parasites (like the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum) -- much closer than their distant algal relatives called dinoflagellates (some of which cause harmful "red-tides"). (more...)