Author's posts
Dec 01
Nephromyces Encodes a Urate Metabolism Pathway and Predicted Peroxisomes, Demonstrating That These Are Not Ancient Losses of Apicomplexans
The phylum Apicomplexa is a quintessentially parasitic lineage, whose members infect a broad range of animals. One exception to this may be the apicomplexan genus Nephromyces, which has been described as having a mutualistic relationship with its host. Here we analyze transcriptome data from Nephromyces and its parasitic sister taxon, Cardiosporidium, revealing an ancestral purine degradation pathway thought to have been lost early in apicomplexan evolution. The predicted localization of many of…
Sep 15
On plant defense signaling networks and early land plant evolution
All land plants must cope with phytopathogens. Algae face pathogens, too, and it is reasonable to assume that some of the strategies for dealing with pathogens evolved prior to the origin of embryophytes – plant terrestrialization simply changed the nature of the plant-pathogen interactions. Here we highlight that many potential components of the angiosperm defense toolkit are i) found in streptophyte algae and non-flowering embryophytes and ii) might be used in non-flowering plant defense as…
May 24
The New Red Algal Subphylum Proteorhodophytina Comprises the Largest and Most Divergent Plastid Genomes Known.
Red algal plastid genomes are often considered ancestral and evolutionarily stable, and thus more closely resembling the last common ancestral plastid genome of all photosynthetic eukaryotes [1, 2]. However, sampling of red algal diversity is still quite limited (e.g., [2-5]). We aimed to remedy this problem. To this end, we sequenced six new plastid genomes …
May 23
The New Red Algal Subphylum Proteorhodophytina Comprises the Largest and Most Divergent Plastid Genomes Known
Red algal plastid genomes are often considered ancestral and evolutionarily stable, and thus more closely resembling the last common ancestral plastid genome of all photosynthetic eukaryotes [1, 2]. However, sampling of red algal diversity is still quite limited (e.g., [2-5]). We aimed to remedy this problem. To this end, we sequenced six new plastid genomes from four undersampled and phylogenetically disparate red algal classes (Porphyridiophyceae, Stylonematophyceae, Compsopogonophyceae, and…
May 13
Lynn Margulis and the endosymbiont hypothesis: 50 years later.
The 1967 article “On the Origin of Mitosing Cells” in the Journal of Theoretical Biology by Lynn Margulis (then Lynn Sagan) is widely regarded as stimulating renewed interest in the long-dormant endosymbiont hypothesis of organelle origins. In her article, not only did Margulis champion an endosymbiotic origin of mitochondria and plastids from bacterial ancestors, but …
May 12
Phenylpropanoid biosynthesis origins in plant algal relatives
Great lab news! Sophie DeVries, our Killam Postdoc and her partner Jan DeVries (Archibald Lab) have just published a very nice research story in Plant & Cell Physiology. The paper is entitled “How Embryophytic is the Biosynthesis of Phenylpropanoids and their Derivatives in Streptophyte Algae?”, and sheds new light on how the earliest land plants …
May 07
Organelles that illuminate the origins of Trichomonas hydrogenosomes and Giardia mitosomes.
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May 05
The Impact of Exclusive Enteral Nutrition (EEN) on the Gut Microbiome in Crohn’s Disease: A Review.
Crohn’s disease (CD), a form of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), is thought to arise from a complex interaction of genetics, the gut microbiome, and environmental factors, such as diet. There is clear evidence that dietary intervention is successful in the treatment of CD-exclusive enteral nutrition (EEN) is able to induce remission in up to 80% …
Apr 30
Mitochondrial genome evolution and a novel RNA editing system in deep-branching heteroloboseids.
Discoba (Excavata) is an evolutionarily important group of eukaryotes that includes Jakobida, with the most bacterial-like mitochondrial genomes known, and Euglenozoa, many of which have extensively fragmented mitochondrial genomes. However, little is known about the mitochondrial genomes of Heterolobosea, the third main group of Discoba. Here, we studied two heteroloboseids – an undescribed amoeba ‘BB2’ …
Mar 26
UniEuk: Time to Speak a Common Language in Protistology!
THE bewildering organismal and functional complexity of microbial eukaryotes has long fascinated protistologists but exceeded the capacity of this research community to comprehensively study it. Lacking the critical mass for a strong scientific discipline, protistologists remain largely divided into various sub-communities (protozoology versus phycology, aquatic versus terrestrial systems, fossil versus extant organisms, etc.), many of …
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