Plastid genome-based phylogeny pinpointed the origin of the green-colored plastid in the dinoflagellate Lepidodinium chlorophorum.

ABSTRACT: Unlike many other photosynthetic dinoflagellates, whose plastids contain a characteristic carotenoid peridinin, members of the genus Lepidodinium are the only known dinoflagellate species possessing green alga-derived plastids. However, the precise origin of Lepidodinium plastids has hitherto remained uncertain. In this study, we completely sequenced the plastid genome of Lepidodinium chlorophorum NIES-1868. Our phylogenetic analyses of 52 plastid-encoded proteins unite L. chlorophorum exclusively with a pedinophyte, Pedinomonas minor, indicating that the green-colored plastids in Lepidodinium spp. were derived from an endosymbiotic pedinophyte or a green alga closely related to pedinophytes. Our genome comparison incorporating the origin of the Lepidodinium plastids strongly suggests that

SUBMITTER: Kamikawa R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4419806 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature