''Reclinomonas'' is a monotypic genus of jakobid

eukaryote Eukaryotes () are organisms whose cells have a nucleus. All animals, plants, fungi, and many unicellular organisms, are Eukaryotes. They belong to the group of organisms Eukaryota or Eukarya, which is one of the three domains of life. Bacte ...

s containing the single species ''Reclinomonas americana''.Simpson, A. 2008
''Reclinomonas'' Flavin & Nerad 1993. ''Reclinomonas americana'' Flavin & Nerad 1993.
Version 05. The Tree of Life Web Project. This organism is a single cell up to 12 micrometers wide. It has two

flagella A flagellum (; ) is a hairlike appendage that protrudes from certain plant and animal sperm cells, and from a wide range of microorganisms to provide motility. Many protists with flagella are termed as flagellates. A microorganism may have f ...

. The cell is in a cup-like lorica which has a stem that attaches to a surface. When the cell reproduces, by undergoing binary fission, one of the two newly split cells produces a new lorica for itself. This protozoan can be found in

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. Although the term specifically excludes seawater and brackish water, it does include ...

. This species was the first jakobid to have its mitochondrial genome sequenced. It contains 97 genes, 62 of them code for proteins.Berg, J. M., et al.
Biochemistry.
' Edition 6. Macmillan. 2010. pg. 505. Other jakobids have been sequenced since, and the data were similar. It has been described as a member of the Excavata. ''R. Americana'' is a large protozoan that ingests bacteria. Such phagocytosis is thought to be how ancestral (two billion years ago) eucaryotes (true nucleus to hold DNA) acquired mitochondrial and chloroplast organelles to perform oxidative metabolism and photosynthesis. ''R. Americana'' has played a significant role in understanding the scope of antiquity of what bacterial DNA was captured because its mitochondrial DNA collection is more complete than that of other eukaryotes, which have discarded many and various genes.

References

Jakobids Excavata genera Monotypic eukaryote genera {{Excavata-stub