Cyanophora Genome Project

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Cyanophora paradoxa, it's alive!

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Scientific merit:
How was photosynthesis established in eukaryotes? To gain insights into this fundamental step in the evolution of our planet, Dr. Debashish Bhattacharya at the University of Iowa and Dr. Jeffrey Boore at SymBio Corporation will determine to high coverage the 140 million base pair nuclear genome sequence of the unicellular alga Cyanophora paradoxa. Cyanophora is a member of the remaining group of photosynthetic eukaryotes (Glaucophyta) that still lacks a complete genome sequence. The single cyanobacterial primary endosymbiosis that gave rise to all plastids (e.g., chloroplasts) occurred in the common ancestor of Cyanophora, other algae, and plants. This was a pivotal and ancient (~1.5 billion years ago) event in the Earth's history that laid the foundation for modern terrestrial ecosystems. A critical step in plastid establishment was the transfer of endosymbiont genes to the "host" nucleus. It is unclear however whether this massive transfer was limited to genes strictly involved in plastid metabolism or whether the host profited from the captured genome to explore other novel functions via recruitment of genes from the cyanobacterium. The Cyanophora genome sequence will enable us to rigorously test this idea in a relatively "simple" algal model. Beyond its contribution to understanding endosymbiosis, the Cyanophora genome sequence will allow countless other insights which include identifying a set of core genes shared by algae and plants that can be studied in detail to understand the origin of plant-specific characters. In addition the Cyanophora genome will be invaluable for guiding the annotation of the genomes of plants and other protists.
Cyanophora is also noteworthy because it is a free-living non-picoeukaryotic mesophile. The existing or nearly complete genomes from algal members of the Plantae are from non-flagellated thermoacidophilic red algae (Cyanidioschyzon merolae [16.5 Mbp], Galdieria sulphuraria [in progress, ca. 16 Mbp]) and from picoeukaryotic green algae (the prasinophytes Ostreococcus tauri [10.2 Mbp] and Micromonas pusilla spp. [ca. 15 Mbp]) that have highly reduced genomes. In the Cyanophora genome, we expect to find the gene set (e.g., for flagellar use, photosynthesis, basic biochemistry) for a free-living autotroph that traces its origin to the Plantae ancestor. These aspects make Cyanophora a highly attractive and a unique opportunity for a genome-sequencing program.

Outreach: Although this is a basic science proposal, the Cyanophora project has the potential to accelerate education and interest at all levels in protists and their genomes. The research team will incorporate the findings of this study into several outreach efforts. The principles of high throughput genomics will be incorporated into several courses offered at the University of Iowa, the findings of the study will be published in the Microbial Life Educational Resources web page at the micro*scope web site http://starcentral.mbl.edu/microscope/portal.php, two graduate students and several undergraduates will be trained at the University of Iowa, and the PI will recruit one or more minority summer student per year through the AGEP program at Iowa.

Grant press release (pdf- file)