Genome size differentiates co-occurring populations of the planktonic diatom Ditylum brightwellii (Bacillariophyta).

ABSTRACT:

Background

Diatoms are one of the most species-rich groups of eukaryotic microbes known. Diatoms are also the only group of eukaryotic micro-algae with a diplontic life history, suggesting that the ancestral diatom switched to a life history dominated by a duplicated genome. A key mechanism of speciation among diatoms could be a propensity for additional stable genome duplications. Across eukaryotic taxa, genome size is directly correlated to cell size and inversely correlated to physiological rates. Differences in relative genome size, cell size, and acclimated growth rates were analyzed in isolates of the diatom Ditylum brightwellii. Ditylum brightwellii consists of two main populations with identical 18s rDNA sequences; one population is distributed globally at temperate latitud

SUBMITTER: Koester JA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2821323 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature