| Registrati | Log in | FAQ | [?] |
THE MESOZOIC RADIATION OF EUKARYOTIC ALGAE: THE PORTABLE PLASTID HYPOTHESISby: D Grzebyk
pp. 259-267.
|
Reviews
[Write a review of this article]
There are no reviews of this article
Notes for this articleBotânica Marinha Aula: Endossimbioses
Find related articles from these CiteULike users
Find related articles with these CiteULike tags
AbstractAlthough all chloroplasts appear to have been derived from a common ancestor, a major schism occurred early in the evolution of eukaryotic algae that gave rise to red and green photoautotrophic lineages. In Paleozoic and earlier times, the fossil record suggests that oceanic eukaryotic phytoplankton were dominated by the green (chl b-containing) algal line. However, following the end-Permian extinction, a diverse group of eukaryotic phytoplankton evolved from secondary symbiotic associations in the red (chl c-containing) line and subsequently rose to ecological prominence. In the contemporary oceans, red eukaryotic phytoplankton taxa continue to dominate marine pelagic food webs, whereas the green line is relegated to comparatively minor ecological and biogeochemical roles. To help elucidate why the oceans are not dominated by green taxa, we analyzed and compared whole plastid genomes in both the red and green lineages. Our results suggest that whereas all algal plastids retain a core set of genes, red plastids retain a complementary set of genes that potentially confer more capacity to autonomously express proteins regulating oxygenic photosynthetic and energy transduction pathways. We hypothesize that specific gene losses in the primary endosymbiotic green plastid reduced its portability for subsequent symbiotic associations. This corollary of the plastid enslavement hypothesis may have limited subsequent evolutionary advances in the green lineage while simultaneously providing a competitive advantage to the red lineage.
BibTeX record
RIS record