Chlamydial genes shed light on the evolution of photoautotrophic eukaryotes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Chlamydiae are obligate intracellular bacteria of protists, invertebrates and vertebrates, but have not been found to date in photosynthetic eukaryotes (algae and embryophytes). Genes of putative chlamydial origin, however, are present in significant numbers in sequenced genomes of photosynthetic eukaryotes. It has been suggested that such genes were acquired by an ancient horizontal gene transfer from Chlamydiae to the ancestor of photosynthetic eukaryotes. To further test this hypothesis, an extensive search for proteins of chlamydial origin was performed using several recently sequenced algal genomes and EST databases, and the proteins subjected to phylogenetic analyses.

Results

A total of 39 proteins of chlamydial origin were retrieved from the photosynthetic

SUBMITTER: Becker B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2490706 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature