Updating algal evolutionary relationships through plastid genome sequencing: did alveolate plastids emerge through endosymbiosis of an ochrophyte?

ABSTRACT: Algae with secondary plastids of a red algal origin, such as ochrophytes (photosynthetic stramenopiles), are diverse and ecologically important, yet their evolutionary history remains controversial. We sequenced plastid genomes of two ochrophytes, Ochromonas sp. CCMP1393 (Chrysophyceae) and Trachydiscus minutus (Eustigmatophyceae). A shared split of the clpC gene as well as phylogenomic analyses of concatenated protein sequences demonstrated that chrysophytes and eustigmatophytes form a clade, the Limnista, exhibiting an unexpectedly elevated rate of plastid gene evolution. Our analyses also indicate that the root of the ochrophyte phylogeny falls between the recently redefined Khakista and Phaeista assemblages. Taking advantage of the expanded sampling of plastid genome sequences, we revi

SUBMITTER: Sevcikova T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4603697 | biostudies-literature | 2015 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature