Genome sequence of the ultrasmall unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae 10D

By M. Matsuzaki, O. Misumi, T. Shin-I, Shinichiro Maruyama, M. Takahara, S. Miyagishima, Toshiyuki Mori, K. Nishida, F. Yagisawa, Keishin Nishida and 32 more. Nature, 2004

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Small, compact genomes of ultrasmall unicellular algae provide information on the basic and essential genes that support the lives of photosynthetic eukaryotes, including higher plants. Here we report the 16,520,305-base-pair sequence of the 20 chromosomes of the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae 10D as the first complete algal genome. We identified 5,331 genes in total, of which at least 86.3% were expressed. Unique characteristics of this genomic structure include: a lack of introns in all but 26 genes; only three copies of ribosomal DNA units that maintain the nucleolus; and two dynamin genes that are involved only in the division of mitochondria and plastids. The conserved mosaic origin of Calvin cycle enzymes in this red alga and in green plants supports the hypothesis of the existence of single primary plastid endosymbiosis. The lack of a myosin gene, in addition to the unexpressed actin gene, suggests a simpler system of cytokinesis. These results indicate that the C. merolae genome provides a model system with a simple gene composition for studying the origin, evolution and fundamental mechanisms of eukaryotic cells.

Subfields: Ecology, Molecular Biology

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/01a919b80a64a65da61b8e92b9d961eeec06669f

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Citations in the corpus

Genetic Engineering of Algae for Enhanced Biofuel Production (2010, background): “Most of these come from the manipulation of E. coli, in which the overexpression and deletion of entire metabolic pathways are feasible.”
CO2 concentrating mechanisms in algae: mechanisms, environmental modulation, and evolution. (2005, background): “The availability of complete genome sequences for the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana and for the thermoacidophilic red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae (113) should help in interpreting physiological and biochemical data on these and related organisms.”
Starch metabolism in green algae (2014, background): “paradoxa) have recently been sequenced including unicellular and multicellular species [85, 86].”
Mapping of picoeucaryotes in marine ecosystems with quantitative PCR of the 18S rRNA gene. (2005, background): “For example in the unicellular alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae only three copies of the rrn operon are present on different loci with no repetition [47] while in the apicomplexan Cryptosporidium parvum, five copies are found [48].”
COMMON EVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN OF STARCH BIOSYNTHETIC ENZYMES IN GREEN AND RED ALGAE 1 (2005, background): “Indeed, the genomic data come from some of the simpler, microscopic, and reduced red algae (Matsuzaki et al. 2004), so a great deal of variability in other taxa is expected.”
Differential gene transfers and gene duplications in primary and secondary endosymbioses (2006, positive): “Two new genome projects on Cyanidioschyzon merolae [24] and Thalassiosira pseudonana [25] were also the source for additional nuclear-located cpn60 genes.”