Plastid genes in the heterotrophic dinoflagellate Crypthecodinium cohnii

SÁNCHEZ PUERTA, M. V., J.C. LIPPMEIER, K. APT & C.F. DELWICHE

Tempe, USA

Congreso; Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution (SMBE) Annual Meeting; 2006

Society of Molecular Biology and Evolution

Crypthecodinium cohnii is an early divergent non-photosynthetic dinoflagellate. We analyzed an EST project on C. cohnii looking for evidence of past endosymbiosis. A significant number of genes of cyanobacterial or algal origin was identified using BLAST tool from NCBI. Phylogenetic analyses suggest that several proteins could have been acquired from a photosynthetic endosymbiont. In addition, a putative N-terminal targeting signal was detected, indicating that C. cohnii may contain a reduced plastid and that some of these proteins are imported into this organelle. Plastid-related metabolic pathways can also be described. This represents the first extensive genomic analysis of a heterotrophic dinoflagellate.