The Chlamydomonas genome reveals the evolution of key animal and plant functions.
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a unicellular green alga whose lineage diverged from land plants over 1 billion years ago. It is a model system for studying chloroplast-based photosynthesis, as well as the structure, assembly, and function of eukaryotic flagella (cilia), which were inherited from the common ancestor of plants and animals, but lost in land plants. We sequenced the approximately 120-megabase nuclear genome of Chlamydomonas and performed comparative phylogenomic analyses, identifying genes encoding uncharacterized proteins that are likely associated with the function and biogenesis of chloroplasts or eukaryotic flagella. Analyses of the Chlamydomonas genome advance our understanding of the ancestral eukaryotic cell, reveal previously unknown genes associated with photosynthetic and flagellar functions, and establish links between ciliopathy and the composition and function of flagella.
Merchant
Sabeeha S
SS
Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA 90095, USA.
Prochnik
Simon E
SE
Vallon
Olivier
O
Harris
Elizabeth H
EH
Karpowicz
Steven J
SJ
Witman
George B
GB
Terry
Astrid
A
Salamov
Asaf
A
Fritz-Laylin
Lillian K
LK
Maréchal-Drouard
Laurence
L
Marshall
Wallace F
WF
Qu
Liang-Hu
LH
Nelson
David R
DR
Sanderfoot
Anton A
AA
Spalding
Martin H
MH
Kapitonov
Vladimir V
VV
Ren
Qinghu
Q
Ferris
Patrick
P
Lindquist
Erika
E
Shapiro
Harris
H
Lucas
Susan M
SM
Grimwood
Jane
J
Schmutz
Jeremy
J
Cardol
Pierre
P
Cerutti
Heriberto
H
Chanfreau
Guillaume
G
Chen
Chun-Long
CL
Cognat
Valérie
V
Croft
Martin T
MT
Dent
Rachel
R
Dutcher
Susan
S
Fernández
Emilio
E
Fukuzawa
Hideya
H
González-Ballester
David
D
González-Halphen
Diego
D
Hallmann
Armin
A
Hanikenne
Marc
M
Hippler
Michael
M
Inwood
William
W
Jabbari
Kamel
K
Kalanon
Ming
M
Kuras
Richard
R
Lefebvre
Paul A
PA
Lemaire
Stéphane D
SD
Lobanov
Alexey V
AV
Lohr
Martin
M
Manuell
Andrea
A
Meier
Iris
I
Mets
Laurens
L
Mittag
Maria
M
Mittelmeier
Telsa
T
Moroney
James V
JV
Moseley
Jeffrey
J
Napoli
Carolyn
C
Nedelcu
Aurora M
AM
Niyogi
Krishna
K
Novoselov
Sergey V
SV
Paulsen
Ian T
IT
Pazour
Greg
G
Purton
Saul
S
Ral
Jean-Philippe
JP
Riaño-Pachón
Diego Mauricio
DM
Riekhof
Wayne
W
Rymarquis
Linda
L
Schroda
Michael
M
Stern
David
D
Umen
James
J
Willows
Robert
R
Wilson
Nedra
N
Zimmer
Sara Lana
SL
Allmer
Jens
J
Balk
Janneke
J
Bisova
Katerina
K
Chen
Chong-Jian
CJ
Elias
Marek
M
Gendler
Karla
K
Hauser
Charles
C
Lamb
Mary Rose
MR
Ledford
Heidi
H
Long
Joanne C
JC
Minagawa
Jun
J
Page
M Dudley
MD
Pan
Junmin
J
Pootakham
Wirulda
W
Roje
Sanja
S
Rose
Annkatrin
A
Stahlberg
Eric
E
Terauchi
Aimee M
AM
Yang
Pinfen
P
Ball
Steven
S
Bowler
Chris
C
Dieckmann
Carol L
CL
Gladyshev
Vadim N
VN
Green
Pamela
P
Jorgensen
Richard
R
Mayfield
Stephen
S
Mueller-Roeber
Bernd
B
Rajamani
Sathish
S
Sayre
Richard T
RT
Brokstein
Peter
P
Dubchak
Inna
I
Goodstein
David
D
Hornick
Leila
L
Huang
Y Wayne
YW
Jhaveri
Jinal
J
Luo
Yigong
Y
Martínez
Diego
D
Ngau
Wing Chi Abby
WC
Otillar
Bobby
B
Poliakov
Alexander
A
Porter
Aaron
A
Szajkowski
Lukasz
L
Werner
Gregory
G
Zhou
Kemin
K
Grigoriev
Igor V
IV
Rokhsar
Daniel S
DS
Grossman
Arthur R
AR
D020418:Algal Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D016825:Chlamydomonas reinhardtii / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D002736:Chloroplasts / Q000378:metabolism; D019295:Computational Biology; D048028:DNA, Algal / Q000235:genetics; D005407:Flagella / Q000378:metabolism; D005796:Genes; D016678:Genome; D023281:Genomics; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family; D010788:Photosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D010802:Phylogeny; D010944:Plants / Q000235:genetics; D020543:Proteome; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
D020418:Algal Proteins; D048028:DNA, Algal; D026901:Membrane Transport Proteins; D020543:Proteome