Alveolins, a New Family of Cortical Proteins that Define the Protist Infrakingdom Alveolata
Bibliographic record
Abstract
Alveolates are a recently recognized group of unicellular eukaryotes that unites disparate protists including apicomplexan parasites (which cause malaria and toxoplasmosis), dinoflagellate algae (which cause red tides and are symbionts in many corals), and ciliates (which are microscopic predators and common rumen symbionts). Gene sequence trees provide robust support for the alveolate alliance, but beyond the common presence of membranous sacs (alveoli) subtending the plasma membrane, the group has no unifying morphological feature. We describe a family of proteins, alveolins, associated with these membranous sacs in apicomplexa, dinoflagellates, and ciliates. Alveolins contain numerous simple peptide repeats and are encoded by multigene families. We generated antibodies against a peptide motif common to all alveolins and identified a range of apparently abundant proteins in apicomplexa, dinoflagellates, and ciliates. Immunolocalization reveals that alveolins are associated exclusively with the cortical regions of apicomplexa, dinoflagellates, and ciliates where the alveolar sacs occur. Alveolins are the first molecular nexus between the unifying structures that defines this eukaryotic group. They provide an excellent opportunity to explore the exceptional compartment that was apparently the key to a remarkable diversification of unique protists that occupy a wide array of lifestyle niches.
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How this classification was reachedexpand
Full frame machine prediction
Teacher imitationNot calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.
Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)
| Category | Codex | Gemma |
|---|---|---|
| Metaresearch | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (narrow) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Meta-epidemiology (broad) | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Bibliometrics | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Science and technology studies | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Scholarly communication | 0.001 | 0.001 |
| Open science | 0.000 | 0.000 |
| Research integrity | 0.001 | 0.000 |
| Insufficient payload (model declined to judge) | 0.001 | 0.000 |
Machine scores (provisional)
The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.
Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.
score_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from itClassification
machine, unvalidatedMachine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.
How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".