Polyplacotoma mediterranea is a species in the phylum Placozoa, only representative of the genus Polyplacotoma.[1] They differ greatly from other species of placozoans with regards to their morphology and genetic makeup, and have been ranked in the separate class Polyplacotomia. P. mediterranea has the smallest mitogenome, the lowest GC content, and the smallest intergenic spacer regions of all placozoans. [1] Their bodily structure consists of elongated polytomous body branches, as well as a maximum size that is greater than 10 mm in length. The mitochondrial genome of Polyplacotoma mediterranea is also very compact and contains overlapping protein and tRNA gene codes.[2]

Polyplacotoma
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Placozoa
Class: Polyplacotomia
Order: Polyplacotomea
Tessler et al., 2022
Family: Polyplacotomidae
Tessler et al., 2022
Genus: Polyplacotoma
Osigus et al., 2019
Species:
P. mediterranea
Binomial name
Polyplacotoma mediterranea
Osigus et al., 2019

References

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  1. ^ a b Osigus, Hans-Jürgen; Rolfes, Sarah; Herzog, Rebecca; Kamm, Kai; Schierwater, Bernd (2019-03-04). "Polyplacotoma mediterranea is a new ramified placozoan species". Current Biology. 29 (5): R148–R149. Bibcode:2019CBio...29.R148O. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2019.01.068. ISSN 0960-9822. PMID 30836080.
  2. ^ Miyazawa, Hideyuki; Osigus, Hans-Jürgen; Rolfes, Sarah; Kamm, Kai; Schierwater, Bernd; Nakano, Hiroaki (7 January 2021). "Mitochondrial Genome Evolution of Placozoans: Gene Rearrangements and Repeat Expansions". Genome Biology and Evolution. 13 (1): 51–53. doi:10.1093/gbe/evaa213. PMC 7813641. PMID 3031489.