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Simple Summary: Alexandrium minutum is one of the causing organisms for the occurrence of harmful algae bloom (HABs) in marine ecosystems. This species produces saxitoxin, one of the deadliest neurotoxins which can cause human mortality. However, molecular information such as genes and proteins catalog on this species is still lacking. Therefore, this study has successfully characterized several new molecular mechanisms regarding A. minutum environmental adaptation and saxitoxin biosynthesis. Ultimately, this study provides a valuable resource for facilitating future dinoflagellates' molecular response to environmental changes. The toxin-producing dinoflagellate Alexandrium minutum is responsible for the outbreaks of harmful algae bloom (HABs). It is a widely distributed species and is responsible for producing paralytic shellfish poisoning toxins. However, the information associated with the environmental adaptation pathway and toxin biosynthesis in this species is still lacking. Therefore, this study focuses on the functional characterization of A. minutum unigenes obtained from transcriptome sequencing using the Illumina Hiseq 4000 sequencing platform. A total of 58,802 (47.05%) unigenes were successfully annotated using public databases such as NCBI-Nr, UniprotKB, EggNOG, KEGG, InterPRO and Gene Ontology (GO). This study has successfully identified key features that enable A. minutum to adapt to the marine environment, including several carbon metabolic pathways, assimilation of various sources of nitrogen and phosphorus. A. minutum was found to encode homologues for several proteins involved in saxitoxin biosynthesis, including the first three proteins in the pathway of saxitoxin biosynthesis, namely sxtA, sxtG and sxtB. The comprehensive transcriptome analysis presented in this study represents a valuable resource for understanding the dinoflagellates molecular metabolic model regarding nutrient acquisition and biosynthesis of saxitoxin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Begomovirus has a wide host range and threatens a significant amount of economic damage to many important crops such as tomatoes, beans, cassava, squash and cotton. There are many efforts directed at controlling this disease including the use of insecticides to control the insect vector as well as screening the resistant varieties. The use of synthetic virus or infectious clones approaches has allowed plant virologists to characterize and exploit the genome virus at the molecular and biological levels. By exploiting the DNA of the virus using the infectious clones strategy, the viral genome can be manipulated at specific regions to study functional genes for host–virus interactions. Thus, this review will provide an overview of the strategy to construct infectious clones of Begomovirus. The significance of established infectious clones in Begomovirus study will also be discussed. Begomovirus has become a potential threat to the agriculture sector. It causes significant losses to several economically important crops. Given this considerable loss, the development of tools to study viral genomes and function is needed. Infectious clones approaches and applications have allowed the direct exploitation of virus genomes. Infectious clones of DNA viruses are the critical instrument for functional characterization of the notable and newly discovered virus. Understanding of structure and composition of viruses has contributed to the evolution of molecular plant pathology. Therefore, this review provides extensive guidelines on the strategy to construct infectious clones of Begomovirus. Also, this technique's impacts and benefits in controlling and understanding the Begomovirus infection will be discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]