The complete plastid genome sequence of the parasitic green alga Helicosporidium sp. is highly reduced and structured.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Loss of photosynthesis has occurred independently in several plant and algal lineages, and represents a major metabolic shift with potential consequences for the content and structure of plastid genomes. To investigate such changes, we sequenced the complete plastid genome of the parasitic, non-photosynthetic green alga, Helicosporidium.

Results

The Helicosporidium plastid genome is among the smallest known (37.5 kb), and like other plastids from non-photosynthetic organisms it lacks all genes for proteins that function in photosynthesis. Its reduced size results from more than just loss of genes, however; it has little non-coding DNA, with only one intron and tiny intergenic spaces, and no inverted repeat (no duplicated genes at all). It encodes precisely the min

SUBMITTER: de Koning AP 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC1463013 | biostudies-literature | 2006 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature