Eukaryote-to-eukaryote gene transfer gives rise to genome mosaicism in euglenids.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Euglenophytes are a group of photosynthetic flagellates possessing a plastid derived from a green algal endosymbiont, which was incorporated into an ancestral host cell via secondary endosymbiosis. However, the impact of endosymbiosis on the euglenophyte nuclear genome is not fully understood due to its complex nature as a 'hybrid' of a non-photosynthetic host cell and a secondary endosymbiont.

Results

We analyzed an EST dataset of the model euglenophyte Euglena gracilis using a gene mining program designed to detect laterally transferred genes. We found E. gracilis genes showing affinity not only with green algae, from which the secondary plastid in euglenophytes evolved, but also red algae and/or secondary algae containing red algal-derived plastids. Phylogeneti

SUBMITTER: Maruyama S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3101172 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature