Publication Date:
2009-04-11
Description:
Picoeukaryotes are a taxonomically diverse group of organisms less than 2 micrometers in diameter. Photosynthetic marine picoeukaryotes in the genus Micromonas thrive in ecosystems ranging from tropical to polar and could serve as sentinel organisms for biogeochemical fluxes of modern oceans during climate change. These broadly distributed primary producers belong to an anciently diverged sister clade to land plants. Although Micromonas isolates have high 18S ribosomal RNA gene identity, we found that genomes from two isolates shared only 90% of their predicted genes. Their independent evolutionary paths were emphasized by distinct riboswitch arrangements as well as the discovery of intronic repeat elements in one isolate, and in metagenomic data, but not in other genomes. Divergence appears to have been facilitated by selection and acquisition processes that actively shape the repertoire of genes that are mutually exclusive between the two isolates differently than the core genes. Analyses of the Micromonas genomes offer valuable insights into ecological differentiation and the dynamic nature of early plant evolution.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Worden, Alexandra Z -- Lee, Jae-Hyeok -- Mock, Thomas -- Rouze, Pierre -- Simmons, Melinda P -- Aerts, Andrea L -- Allen, Andrew E -- Cuvelier, Marie L -- Derelle, Evelyne -- Everett, Meredith V -- Foulon, Elodie -- Grimwood, Jane -- Gundlach, Heidrun -- Henrissat, Bernard -- Napoli, Carolyn -- McDonald, Sarah M -- Parker, Micaela S -- Rombauts, Stephane -- Salamov, Aasf -- Von Dassow, Peter -- Badger, Jonathan H -- Coutinho, Pedro M -- Demir, Elif -- Dubchak, Inna -- Gentemann, Chelle -- Eikrem, Wenche -- Gready, Jill E -- John, Uwe -- Lanier, William -- Lindquist, Erika A -- Lucas, Susan -- Mayer, Klaus F X -- Moreau, Herve -- Not, Fabrice -- Otillar, Robert -- Panaud, Olivier -- Pangilinan, Jasmyn -- Paulsen, Ian -- Piegu, Benoit -- Poliakov, Aaron -- Robbens, Steven -- Schmutz, Jeremy -- Toulza, Eve -- Wyss, Tania -- Zelensky, Alexander -- Zhou, Kemin -- Armbrust, E Virginia -- Bhattacharya, Debashish -- Goodenough, Ursula W -- Van de Peer, Yves -- Grigoriev, Igor V -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2009 Apr 10;324(5924):268-72. doi: 10.1126/science.1167222.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA 95039 USA. azworden@mbari.org〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19359590" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Keywords:
Adaptation, Physiological
;
*Biological Evolution
;
Chlorophyta/classification/cytology/*genetics/physiology
;
DNA Transposable Elements
;
Ecosystem
;
Gene Expression Regulation
;
Genes
;
Genetic Variation
;
*Genome
;
Introns
;
Meiosis/genetics
;
Molecular Sequence Data
;
Oceans and Seas
;
Photosynthesis/genetics
;
Phylogeny
;
Phytoplankton/classification/genetics
;
Plants/*genetics
;
RNA, Untranslated
;
Repetitive Sequences, Nucleic Acid
;
Sequence Analysis, DNA
;
Transcription Factors/genetics
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
,
Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
