ArticleNature communications2021
Single cell genomics reveals plastid-lacking Picozoa are close relatives of red algae.
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 48 papers.
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Who cites it
48 citing papers in PubMed, 110 citations in OpenAlex.
- Mitochondrial Genome Reduction and Accelerated Evolution in Planktonic Foraminiferans.MicrobiologyOpen · 2026Article
- Environmental phylogenetics supports a steady diversification of crown eukaryotes starting from the mid-Proterozoic.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Marine population-genetic inferences reveal stronger oceanic structure in protists than Archaeplastida (plants) and Metazoa (animals).Science advances · 2026Article
- Progress and prospects of parasitic plant biodiversity genomics.Plant & cell physiology · 2026Review
- Picophytoplankton implicated in productivity and biogeochemistry in the North Pacific Transition Zone.mSystems · 2026Article
- Global metagenomics reveals plastid diversity and unexplored algal lineages.Nature communications · 2026Article
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- Identification of a deep-branching lineage of algae using environmental plastid genomes.Nature communications · 2025Article
- Different brewing materials change the vertical distribution pattern of eukaryotic communities in Luzhou-flavor liquor pit muds.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- Phylogenomic Analysis of Deep-Branching Telonemid.Genome biology and evolution · 2025Article
- Metagenomics of the MAST-3 stramenopile,Microbial genomics · 2025Article
- Apusomonad rhodopsins: A new family of ultraviolet to blue light-absorbing rhodopsin channels.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
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- Protists with Uncertain Phylogenetic Affiliations for Resolving the Deep Tree of Eukaryotes.Microorganisms · 2025Review
- Phylogenetic position and mitochondrial genome evolution of "orphan" eukaryotic lineages.iScience · 2025Article
- Freshwater Discharge and Salinity Drive Taxonomic and Functional Turnover of Microbial Communities in a Turbid Macrotidal Estuary.Environmental microbiology reports · 2025Article
- Eukaryote-Wide Distribution of a Family of Longin Domain-Containing GAP Complexes for Small GTPases.Traffic (Copenhagen, Denmark) · 2025Article
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors at 6 institutions in 7 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The endosymbiotic origin of plastids from cyanobacteria gave eukaryotes photosynthetic capabilities and launched the diversification of countless forms of algae. These primary plastids are found in members of the eukaryotic supergroup Archaeplastida. All known archaeplastids still retain some form of primary plastids, which are widely assumed to have a single origin. Here, we use single-cell genomics from natural samples combined with phylogenomics to infer the evolutionary origin of the phylum Picozoa, a globally distributed but seemingly rare group of marine microbial heterotrophic eukaryotes. Strikingly, the analysis of 43 single-cell genomes shows that Picozoa belong to Archaeplastida, specifically related to red algae and the phagotrophic rhodelphids. These picozoan genomes support the hypothesis that Picozoa lack a plastid, and further reveal no evidence of an early cryptic endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria. These findings change our understanding of plastid evolution as they either represent the first complete plastid loss in a free-living taxon, or indicate that red algae and rhodelphids obtained their plastids independently of other archaeplastids.
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