Category: Dinoflagellate genomics

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Correlation between organelle genetic variation and RNA editing in dinoflagellates associated with the coral Acropora digitifera.
Genome Biol Evol. 2020 Feb 27;:
Authors: Shoguchi E, Yoshioka Y, Shi…

In order to develop successful strategies for coral reef preservation, it is critical that the biology of both host corals and symbiotic algae are investigated. In the Ryukyu Archipelago, which encompasses many islands spread over ∼500 km of the Pacific Ocean, four major populations of the coral Acropora digitifera have been studied using whole-genome shotgun (WGS) sequence analysis (Shinzato C, Mungpakdee S, Arakaki N, Satoh N. 2015. Genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) analysis…

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Dinoflagellates with relic endosymbiont nuclei as models for elucidating organellogenesis.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2020 Feb 24;:
Authors: Sarai C, Tanifuji G, Nakayama T, Kamikawa R, Takahashi K, …

Nucleomorphs are relic endosymbiont nuclei so far found only in two algal groups, cryptophytes and chlorarachniophytes, which have been studied to model the evolutionary process of integrating an endosymbiont alga into a host-governed plastid (organellogenesis). However, past studies suggest that DNA transfer from the endosymbiont to host nuclei had already ceased in both cryptophytes and chlorarachniophytes, implying that the organellogenesis at the genetic level has been completed in the two…

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Characterizing ciguatoxin (CTX)- and Non-CTX-producing strains of Gambierdiscus balechii using comparative transcriptomics.
Sci Total Environ. 2020 Feb 07;717:137184
Authors: Wu Z, Luo H, Yu L, Lee …

Gambierdiscus spp. can produce the polyketide compound, ciguatoxin (CTX), and are hence responsible for ciguatera fish poisoning (CFP). Studying the molecular mechanism that regulates CTX production is crucial for understanding the environmental trigger of CTX as well as for better informing fishery management. Commonly, polyketide synthases are important for polyketide synthesis; however, no gene has been confirmatively assigned to CTX production. Here, suppression subtractive hybridization…

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Cryptic species in the parasitic Amoebophrya species complex revealed by a polyphasic approach.
Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 13;10(1):2531
Authors: Cai R, Kayal E, Alves-de-Souza C, Bigeard E, Corre E, Jeantho…

As critical primary producers and recyclers of organic matter, the diversity of marine protists has been extensively explored by high-throughput barcode sequencing. However, classification of short metabarcoding sequences into traditional taxonomic units is not trivial, especially for lineages mainly known by their genetic fingerprints. This is the case for the widespread Amoebophrya ceratii species complex, parasites of their dinoflagellate congeners. We used genetic and phenotypic characters,…

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Biosynthesis of Saxitoxin in Marine Dinoflagellates: An Omics Perspective.
Mar Drugs. 2020 Feb 05;18(2):
Authors: Akbar MA, Mohd Yusof NY, Tahir NI, Ahmad A, Usup G, Sahrani FK, Bunawan H
Ab…

Saxitoxin is an alkaloid neurotoxin originally isolated from the clam Saxidomus giganteus in 1957. This group of neurotoxins is produced by several species of freshwater cyanobacteria and marine dinoflagellates. The saxitoxin biosynthesis pathway was described for the first time in the 1980s and, since then, it was studied in more than seven cyanobacterial genera, comprising 26 genes that form a cluster ranging from 25.7 kb to 35 kb in sequence length. Due to the complexity of the genomic…