ArticleScientific reports2018
Multiple losses of photosynthesis and convergent reductive genome evolution in the colourless green algae Prototheca.
Article in Scientific reports, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 31 papers.
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31 citing papers in PubMed, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
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- Metabolic Adaptations Determine the Evolutionary Trajectory of TOR Signaling in Diverse Eukaryotes.Biomolecules · 2025Article
- Complete mitochondrial genomes of the Prototheca genus: comparative genomics and evolutionary insights.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Comparative genomic insights into ecological adaptations and evolutionary dynamics of Trebouxiophyceae algae.BMC genomics · 2025Article
- Diatom heterotrophy on brown algal polysaccharides emerged through horizontal gene transfer, gene duplication, and neofunctionalization.PLoS biology · 2025Article
- Reduced plastid genomes of colorless facultative pathogens Prototheca (Chlorophyta) are retained for membrane transport genes.BMC biology · 2024Article
- Chromosome-scale assembly of the streamlined picoeukaryoteMicrobial genomics · 2024Article
- The synthetic future of algal genomes.Cell genomics · 2024Review
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- Old genes in new places: A taxon-rich analysis of interdomain lateral gene transfer events.PLoS genetics · 2022Article
- Genome evolution of a nonparasitic secondary heterotroph, the diatomScience advances · 2022Article
- Comparison ofLife (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Article
- Article
- What Happened before Losses of Photosynthesis in Cryptophyte Algae?Molecular biology and evolution · 2022Article
- Organellar Evolution: A Path from Benefit to Dependence.Microorganisms · 2022Review
- Genome Sequences of Two Strains ofFrontiers in cellular and infection microbiology · 2022Article
- Now for something completely different: Prototheca, pathogenic algae.PLoS pathogens · 2021Review
- Nutrient-driven genome evolution revealed by comparative genomics of chrysomonad flagellates.Communications biology · 2021Article
- A first insight into the genome of Prototheca wickerhamii, a major causative agent of human protothecosis.BMC genomics · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Autotrophic eukaryotes have evolved by the endosymbiotic uptake of photosynthetic organisms. Interestingly, many algae and plants have secondarily lost the photosynthetic activity despite its great advantages. Prototheca and Helicosporidium are non-photosynthetic green algae possessing colourless plastids. The plastid genomes of Prototheca wickerhamii and Helicosporidium sp. are highly reduced owing to the elimination of genes related to photosynthesis. To gain further insight into the reductive genome evolution during the shift from a photosynthetic to a heterotrophic lifestyle, we sequenced the plastid and nuclear genomes of two Prototheca species, P. cutis JCM 15793 and P. stagnora JCM 9641, and performed comparative genome analyses among trebouxiophytes. Our phylogenetic analyses using plastid- and nucleus-encoded proteins strongly suggest that independent losses of photosynthesis have occurred at least three times in the clade of Prototheca and Helicosporidium. Conserved gene content among these non-photosynthetic lineages suggests that the plastid and nuclear genomes have convergently eliminated a similar set of photosynthesis-related genes. Other than the photosynthetic genes, significant gene loss and gain were not observed in Prototheca compared to its closest photosynthetic relative Auxenochlorella. Although it remains unclear why loss of photosynthesis occurred in Prototheca, the mixotrophic capability of trebouxiophytes likely made it possible to eliminate photosynthesis.
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