Diversification of the light-harvesting complex gene family via intra- and intergenic duplications in the coral symbiotic alga Symbiodinium.

ABSTRACT: The light-harvesting complex (LHC) is an essential component in light energy capture and transduction to facilitate downstream photosynthetic reactions in plant and algal chloroplasts. The unicellular dinoflagellate alga Symbiodinium is an endosymbiont of cnidarian animals, including corals and sea anemones, and provides carbohydrates generated through photosynthesis to host animals. Although Symbiodinium possesses a unique LHC gene family, called chlorophyll a-chlorophyll c2-peridinin protein complex (acpPC), its genome-level diversity and evolutionary trajectories have not been investigated. Here, we describe a phylogenetic analysis revealing that many of the LHCs are encoded by highly duplicated genes with multi-subunit polyprotein structures in the nuclear genome of Symbiodinium minutu

SUBMITTER: Maruyama S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4351107 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature