Abstract
A single cyanobacterial primary endosymbiosis that occurred approximately 1.5 billion years ago [1-3] is believed to have given rise to the plastid in the common ancestor of the Plantae or Archaeplastida-the eukaryotic supergroup comprising red, green (including land plants), and glaucophyte algae [4-8]. Critical to plastid establishment was the transfer of endosymbiont genes to the host nucleus (i.e., endosymbiotic gene transfer [EGT]) [9, 10]. It has been postulated that plastid-derived EGT played a significant role in plant nuclear-genome evolution, with 18% (or 4,500) of all nuclear genes in Arabidopsis thaliana having a cyanobacterial origin with about one-half of these recruited for nonplastid functions [11]. Here, we determine whether the level of cyanobacterial gene recruitment proposed for Arabidopsis is of the same magnitude in the algal sisters of plants by analyzing expressed-sequence tag (EST) data from the glaucophyte alga Cyanophora paradoxa. Bioinformatic analysis of 3,576 Cyanophora nuclear genes shows that 10.8% of these with significant database hits are of cyanobacterial origin and one-ninth of these have nonplastid functions. Our data indicate that unlike plants, early-diverging algal groups appear to retain a smaller number of endosymbiont genes in their nucleus, with only a minor proportion of these recruited for nonplastid functions.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 2320-2325 |
Number of pages | 6 |
Journal | Current Biology |
Volume | 16 |
Issue number | 23 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 5 2006 |
Externally published | Yes |
Fingerprint
Keywords
- EVO_ECOL
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Agricultural and Biological Sciences(all)
Cite this
Cyanobacterial Contribution to Algal Nuclear Genomes Is Primarily Limited to Plastid Functions. / Reyes-Prieto, Adrian; Hackett, Jeremiah; Soares, Marcelo B.; Bonaldo, Maria F.; Bhattacharya, Debashish.
In: Current Biology, Vol. 16, No. 23, 05.12.2006, p. 2320-2325.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Cyanobacterial Contribution to Algal Nuclear Genomes Is Primarily Limited to Plastid Functions
AU - Reyes-Prieto, Adrian
AU - Hackett, Jeremiah
AU - Soares, Marcelo B.
AU - Bonaldo, Maria F.
AU - Bhattacharya, Debashish
PY - 2006/12/5
Y1 - 2006/12/5
N2 - A single cyanobacterial primary endosymbiosis that occurred approximately 1.5 billion years ago [1-3] is believed to have given rise to the plastid in the common ancestor of the Plantae or Archaeplastida-the eukaryotic supergroup comprising red, green (including land plants), and glaucophyte algae [4-8]. Critical to plastid establishment was the transfer of endosymbiont genes to the host nucleus (i.e., endosymbiotic gene transfer [EGT]) [9, 10]. It has been postulated that plastid-derived EGT played a significant role in plant nuclear-genome evolution, with 18% (or 4,500) of all nuclear genes in Arabidopsis thaliana having a cyanobacterial origin with about one-half of these recruited for nonplastid functions [11]. Here, we determine whether the level of cyanobacterial gene recruitment proposed for Arabidopsis is of the same magnitude in the algal sisters of plants by analyzing expressed-sequence tag (EST) data from the glaucophyte alga Cyanophora paradoxa. Bioinformatic analysis of 3,576 Cyanophora nuclear genes shows that 10.8% of these with significant database hits are of cyanobacterial origin and one-ninth of these have nonplastid functions. Our data indicate that unlike plants, early-diverging algal groups appear to retain a smaller number of endosymbiont genes in their nucleus, with only a minor proportion of these recruited for nonplastid functions.
AB - A single cyanobacterial primary endosymbiosis that occurred approximately 1.5 billion years ago [1-3] is believed to have given rise to the plastid in the common ancestor of the Plantae or Archaeplastida-the eukaryotic supergroup comprising red, green (including land plants), and glaucophyte algae [4-8]. Critical to plastid establishment was the transfer of endosymbiont genes to the host nucleus (i.e., endosymbiotic gene transfer [EGT]) [9, 10]. It has been postulated that plastid-derived EGT played a significant role in plant nuclear-genome evolution, with 18% (or 4,500) of all nuclear genes in Arabidopsis thaliana having a cyanobacterial origin with about one-half of these recruited for nonplastid functions [11]. Here, we determine whether the level of cyanobacterial gene recruitment proposed for Arabidopsis is of the same magnitude in the algal sisters of plants by analyzing expressed-sequence tag (EST) data from the glaucophyte alga Cyanophora paradoxa. Bioinformatic analysis of 3,576 Cyanophora nuclear genes shows that 10.8% of these with significant database hits are of cyanobacterial origin and one-ninth of these have nonplastid functions. Our data indicate that unlike plants, early-diverging algal groups appear to retain a smaller number of endosymbiont genes in their nucleus, with only a minor proportion of these recruited for nonplastid functions.
KW - EVO_ECOL
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=33751422757&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=33751422757&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cub.2006.09.063
DO - 10.1016/j.cub.2006.09.063
M3 - Article
C2 - 17141613
AN - SCOPUS:33751422757
VL - 16
SP - 2320
EP - 2325
JO - Current Biology
JF - Current Biology
SN - 0960-9822
IS - 23
ER -