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The SAR Supergroup: Stramenopiles, Alveolates, and Rhizaria

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State

SAR groups three subgroups: stramenopiles and alveolates, whose photosynthetic members share a secondary-endosymbiotic chloroplast history, and rhizaria, united instead by shared genetic and cytoskeletal traits.

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Rhizarians unite with stramenopiles and alveolates by cytoskeletal and molecular traits, not by a shared chloroplast history.

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Not every SAR member is photosynthetic — some lineages lost their plastids or never had one.