Single-cell transcriptomics using spliced leader PCR: Evidence for multiple losses of photosynthesis in polykrikoid dinoflagellates.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Most microbial eukaryotes are uncultivated and thus poorly suited to standard genomic techniques. This is the case for Polykrikos lebouriae, a dinoflagellate with ultrastructurally aberrant plastids. It has been suggested that these plastids stem from a novel symbiosis with either a diatom or haptophyte, but this hypothesis has been difficult to test as P. lebouriae dwells in marine sand rife with potential genetic contaminants.

Results

We applied spliced-leader targeted PCR (SLPCR) to obtain dinoflagellate-specific transcriptomes on single-cell isolates of P. lebouriae from marine sediments. Polykrikos lebouriae expressed nuclear-encoded photosynthetic genes that were characteristic of the peridinin-plastids of dinoflagellates, rather than those from a diatom of

SUBMITTER: Gavelis GS 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4504456 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature