1. Green Evolution and Dynamic Adaptations Revealed by Genomes of the Marine Picoeukaryotes Micromonas.
- Author
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Worden, Alexandra Z., Jae-Hyeok Lee, Mock, Thomas, Rouzé, 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, and Von Dassow, Peter
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MICROMONOSPORA , *GENOMICS , *TAXONOMY , *PHOTOSYNTHETIC bacteria , *BIOGEOCHEMICAL cycles , *CLIMATE change , *DATA analysis - Abstract
Picoeukaryotes are a taxonomically diverse group of organisms less than 2 micrometers in diameter. Photosynthetic marine picoeukaryotes in the genus Micromonos 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 Micromonos isolates have high 185 ribosomal RNA gent 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 mefagenomic 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 ore mutually exclusive between the two isolates differently than the core genes. Analyses of the Micromonos genomes offer valuable insights into ecological differentiation and the dynamic nature of early plant evolution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Published
- 2009
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