Dinoflagellates of the genus Alexandrium are responsible for harmful algal blooms and produce paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs). Their very large and complex genomes make it challenging to identify the genes responsible for toxin synthesis. A family-based genomic association study was developed to determine the inheritance of toxin production in Alexandrium minutum and identify genomic regions linked to this production. We show that the ability to produce toxins is inheritable in a Mendelian…

The dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea is a harmful algal species and commonly observed in estuarine and coastal waters around the world. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) caused by this species lead to serious environmental impacts in the coastal waters of China since 1998 followed by huge economic losses. However, the full-length transcriptome information of A. sanguinea is still not fully explored, which hampers basic genetic and functional studies. Herein, single-molecule real-time (SMRT)…

The dinoflagellate Akashiwo sanguinea is a harmful algal species and commonly observed in estuarine and coastal waters around the world. Harmful algal blooms (HABs) caused by this species lead to serious environmental impacts in the coastal waters of China since 1998 followed by huge economic losses. However, the full-length transcriptome information of A. sanguinea is still not fully explored, which hampers basic genetic and functional studies. Herein, single-molecule real-time (SMRT)…

Despite theoretical expectations, marine microeukaryote population are often highly structured and the mechanisms behind such patterns remain to be elucidated. These organisms display huge census population sizes, yet genotyping usually requires clonal strains originating from single cells, hindering proper population sampling. Estimating allelic frequency directly from population wide samples, without any isolation step, offers an interesting alternative. Here we validate the use of…

Dinoflagellate inhabitants of the reef-building corals exchange nutrients and signals with host cells, which often benefit the growth of both partners. Phytohormones serve as central hubs for signal integration between symbiotic microbes and their hosts, allowing appropriate modulation of plant growth and defense in response to various stresses. However, the presence and function of phytohormones in photosynthetic dinoflagellates and their function in the holobionts remain elusive. We…

Dinoflagellate inhabitants of the reef-building corals exchange nutrients and signals with host cells, which often benefit the growth of both partners. Phytohormones serve as central hubs for signal integration between symbiotic microbes and their hosts, allowing appropriate modulation of plant growth and defense in response to various stresses. However, the presence and function of phytohormones in photosynthetic dinoflagellates and their function in the holobionts remain elusive. We…

The metabolic capabilities of animals have been derived from well-studied model organisms and are generally considered to be well understood. In animals, cysteine is an important amino acid thought to be exclusively synthesized through the transsulfuration pathway. Corals of the genus Acropora have lost cystathionine β-synthase, a key enzyme of the transsulfuration pathway, and it was proposed that Acropora relies on the symbiosis with dinoflagellates of the family Symbiodiniaceae for the…

Dinoflagellates play important roles in ecosystems as primary producers and consumers making natural products that can benefit or harm environmental and human health but are also potential therapeutics with unique chemistries. Annotations of dinoflagellate genes have been hampered by large genomes with many gene copies that reduce the reliability of transcriptomics, quantitative PCR, and targeted knockouts. This study aimed to functionally characterize dinoflagellate proteins by testing their…

Dinoflagellates play important roles in ecosystems as primary producers and consumers making natural products that can benefit or harm environmental and human health but are also potential therapeutics with unique chemistries. Annotations of dinoflagellate genes have been hampered by large genomes with many gene copies that reduce the reliability of transcriptomics, quantitative PCR, and targeted knockouts. This study aimed to functionally characterize dinoflagellate proteins by testing their…

Mitochondrial genomes of apicomplexans, dinoflagellates and chrompodellids that collectively make up the Myzozoa, encode only three proteins (COB, COX1, COX3), contain fragmented rRNAs, and display extensive recombination, RNA trans-splicing, and RNA-editing. The early-diverging Perkinsozoa is the final major myzozoan lineage whose mitochondrial genomes remained poorly characterized. Previous reports of Perkinsus genes indicated independent acquisition of non-canonical features, namely the…