title: Genomics of Volvocine Algae.
abstract: Volvocine algae are a group of chlorophytes that together comprise a unique model for evolutionary and developmental biology. The speciesChlamydomonas reinhardtiiandVolvox carterirepresent extremes in morphological diversity within the Volvocine clade.Chlamydomonasis unicellular and reflects the ancestral state of the group, whileVolvoxis multicellular and has evolved numerous innovations including germ-soma differentiation, sexual dimorphism, and complex morphogenetic patterning. TheChlamydomonasgenome sequence has shed light on several areas of eukaryotic cell biology, metabolism and evolution, while theVolvoxgenome sequence has enabled a comparison withChlamydomonasthat reveals some of the underlying changes that enabled its transition to multicellularity, but also underscores the subtlety of this transition. Many of the tools and resources are in place to further develop Volvocine algae as a model for evolutionary genomics.
authors.affiliation: Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, 975 North Warson Rd., St. Louis, MO 63132 USA.
authors.forename: James G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Umen
authors.affiliation: Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology, Ecological Genomics Institute, Division of Biology, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS 66506 USA.
authors.forename: Bradley J S C
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Olson