Organellar Genomes of Three Globally Important Nanoplanktonic Diatoms Refine Their Taxon-Specific Distribution and Succession Patterns in the Northwest Atlantic.

ABSTRACT: Nanoplanktonic diatoms (2-20 μm) are a significant yet historically understudied component of marine ecosystems. We investigated three recently isolated nanoplanktonic diatoms from the Northwest Atlantic Ocean (NWA): Minidiscus spinulatus, Mediolabrus comicus, and Minidiscus trioculatus. Using Oxford Nanopore sequencing, we assembled and annotated their complete chloroplast and mitochondrial genomes. Pangenome analyses revealed that Minidiscus species consistently clustered more closely with select Thalassiosira species, whereas M. comicus formed a sister clade with Skeletonema. Circularized chloroplast genomes allowed us to characterize the full-length 16S ribosomal RNAs for each isolate, thereby leading to higher resolution of these taxa in preexisting 16S metabarcoding data. During our

SUBMITTER: Stevens-Green R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12326293 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Sep-Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature