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Title: DINOFLAGELLATE EXPRESSED SEQUENCE TAG DATA INDICATE MASSIVE TRANSFER OF GENES TO THE NUCLEAR GENOME

Author
item BACHVAROFF, TSVETAN - UNIV OF MARYLAND
item CONCEPCION, GREGORY - UNIV OF MARYLAND
item ROGERS, CAROLYN - UNIV OF MARYLAND
item Herman, Eliot
item DELWICHE, CHARLES - UNIV OF MARYLAND

Submitted to: Protist
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 10/2/2003
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Red tide blooms of unicellular dinoflagellates in near-shore locations cause environmental problems worldwide. Toxins produced by these organisms result in denial of recreational use and massive kills of wild and farmed fish that can extend across considerable distance of the shoreline. The red tides are caused, in part, by nutrient excess due to industrial and agricultural run-off. The biology of these organisms is poorly understood and with that paucity of knowledge, there is no known means of managing a red tide once an outbreak has occurred. To increase the fundamental knowledge of dinoflagellates, a genomic analysis was initiated supported by the National Science Foundation. Reported in this research are the sequences of a large number of transcribed genes. The analysis of the sequences indicated that there has been a massive transferal of plastid genes to the nucleus in the dinoflagellates. Understanding plastids and their genes may offer prospects for control. The primary users of this information are scientists who can make use of the sequence information. However, the range of scientists who can use this data is large, encompassing not only molecular biologists and evolutionary biologists, but also scientists who work in industry and mine the sequence databases for genes that encode enzymes that produce novel substances.

Technical Abstract: The peridinin-pigmented plastids of dinoflagellates are very poorly understood, in part, because of the paucity of molecular data available from these endosymbiotic organelles. To identify additional gene sequences that would carry information about the biology of the peridinin-type dinoflagellate plastid and its evolutionary history, an analysis was undertaken of arbitrarily selected sequences from cDNA libraries constructed from Lingulodinium polyedrum (1012 non-redundant sequences) and Amphidinium carterae (2042). Among the two libraries, 123 unique plastid-associated sequences were identified, including 31 (most from A. carterae) that are encoded in the plastid genome of the red alga Porphyra. These sequences probably represent bona fide nuclear genes, and suggest that there has been massive transfer of genes from the plastid to the nuclear genome in dinoflagellates. These data support the hypothesis that the peridinin-type plastid has a minimal genome, and provide data that contradict the hypothesis that there is an unidentified canonical genome in the peridinin-type plastid. Sequences were also identified that were probably transferred directly from the nuclear genome of the red algal endosymbiont, as well as others that are distinctive to the Alveolata. A preliminary report of these data was presented at the Botany 2002 meeting in Madison, WI.