Cyanophora paradoxa genome elucidates origin of photosynthesis in algae and plants
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
2-17-2012
Abstract
The primary endosymbiotic origin of the plastid in eukaryotes more than 1 billion years ago led to the evolution of algae and plants. We analyzed draft genome and transcriptome data from the basally diverging alga Cyanophora paradoxa and provide evidence for a single origin of the primary plastid in the eukaryote supergroup Plantae. C. paradoxa retains ancestral features of starch biosynthesis, fermentation, and plastid protein translocation common to plants and algae but lacks typical eukaryotic light-harvesting complex proteins. Traces of an ancient link to parasites such as Chlamydiae were found in the genomes of C. paradoxa and other Plantae. Apparently, Chlamydia-like bacteria donated genes that allow export of photosynthate from the plastid and its polymerization into storage polysaccharide in the cytosol.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Science
Volume
335
Issue
6070
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Price, Dana C., Cheong Xin Chan, Hwan Su Yoon, Eun Chan Yang, Huan Qiu, Andreas P. Weber, Rainer Schwacke, Jeferson Gross, Nicolas A. Blouin, Chris Lane, Adrián Reyes-Prieto, Dion G. Durnford, Jonathan A. Neilson, B. F. Lang, Gertraud Burger, Jürgen M. Steiner, Wolfgang Löffelhardt, Jonathan E. Meuser, Matthew C. Posewitz, Steven Ball, Maria C. Arias, Bernard Henrissat, Pedro M. Coutinho, Stefan A. Rensing, Aikaterini Symeonidi, Harshavardhan Doddapaneni, Beverly R. Green, Veeran D. Rajah, and Jeffrey Boore. "Cyanophora paradoxa genome elucidates origin of photosynthesis in algae and plants." Science 335, 6070 (2012): 843-847. doi: 10.1126/science.1213561.