Genome analysis of Elysia chlorotica Egg DNA provides no evidence for horizontal gene transfer into the germ line of this Kleptoplastic Mollusc.

ABSTRACT: The sea slug Elysia chlorotica offers a unique opportunity to study the evolution of a novel function (photosynthesis) in a complex multicellular host. Elysia chlorotica harvests plastids (absent of nuclei) from its heterokont algal prey, Vaucheria litorea. The "stolen" plastids are maintained for several months in cells of the digestive tract and are essential for animal development. The basis of long-term maintenance of photosynthesis in this sea slug was thought to be explained by extensive horizontal gene transfer (HGT) from the nucleus of the alga to the animal nucleus, followed by expression of algal genes in the gut to provide essential plastid-destined proteins. Early studies of target genes and proteins supported the HGT hypothesis, but more recent genome-wide data provide conflic

SUBMITTER: Bhattacharya D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3708498 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature