Organization of the mitochondrial genome in the dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae.
We have characterized the mitochondrial genome of the dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae. It contains just 3 identifiable protein-coding genes: cox1, cox3, and cob. No evidence for rRNA or tRNA genes was found. Expressed sequence tags (EST) sequences for the 3 genes suggest that RNA editing occurs in 2 cases removing an in-frame stop codon. Two of the transcripts (cob and cox1) lack a stop codon at the end of the gene. The genome contains a large amount of noncoding DNA including many fragmented copies of all the 3 genes and large numbers of inverted repeats. The genome, which contains about 70% AT, has undergone extensive recombination, possibly due to the inverted repeats. The highly reduced mitochondrial gene content supports the relationship of the dinoflagellates and apicomplexa as sister groups.
Nash
Edmund A
EA
Department of Biochemistry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Barbrook
Adrian C
AC
Edwards-Stuart
Rachel K
RK
Bernhardt
Kaj
K
Howe
Christopher J
CJ
Nisbet
R Ellen R
RE
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004141:Dinoflagellida / Q000235:genetics*; D019143:Evolution, Molecular; D050259:Genes, Mitochondrial; D023281:Genomics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D017393:RNA Editing; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA