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The Chlorella variabilis NC64A Genome Reveals Adaptation to Photosymbiosis, Coevolution with Viruses, and Cryptic Sex

Guillaume Blanc, Garry Duncan, Irina Agarkova, Mark Borodovsky, James Gurnon, Alan Kuo, Erika Lindquist, Susan Lucas, Jasmyn Pangilinan, Juergen Polle, Asaf Salamov, Astrid Terry, Takashi Yamada, David D. Dunigan, Igor V. Grigoriev, Jean-Michel Claverie, James L. Van Etten
Guillaume Blanc
aCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire Information Génomique et Structurale UPR2589, Aix-Marseille Université, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, 13009 Marseille, France
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  • For correspondence: guillaume.blanc@igs.cnrs-mrs.fr
Garry Duncan
bBiology Department, Nebraska Wesleyan University, Lincoln, Nebraska 68504-2796
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Irina Agarkova
cDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583-0722
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Mark Borodovsky
dWallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, School of Computational Science and Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332
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James Gurnon
cDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583-0722
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Alan Kuo
eDepartment of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598
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Erika Lindquist
eDepartment of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598
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Susan Lucas
eDepartment of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598
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Jasmyn Pangilinan
eDepartment of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598
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Juergen Polle
fBrooklyn College of the City University of New York, Department of Biology, Brooklyn, New York 11210-2889
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Asaf Salamov
eDepartment of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598
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Astrid Terry
eDepartment of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598
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Takashi Yamada
gDepartment of Molecular Biotechnology, Graduate School of Advanced Science of Matter, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8530, Japan
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David D. Dunigan
cDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583-0722
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Igor V. Grigoriev
eDepartment of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598
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Jean-Michel Claverie
aCentre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire Information Génomique et Structurale UPR2589, Aix-Marseille Université, Institut de Microbiologie de la Méditerranée, 13009 Marseille, France
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James L. Van Etten
cDepartment of Plant Pathology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska 68583-0722
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Published September 2010. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1105/tpc.110.076406

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  • © 2010 American Society of Plant Biologists

Abstract

Chlorella variabilis NC64A, a unicellular photosynthetic green alga (Trebouxiophyceae), is an intracellular photobiont of Paramecium bursaria and a model system for studying virus/algal interactions. We sequenced its 46-Mb nuclear genome, revealing an expansion of protein families that could have participated in adaptation to symbiosis. NC64A exhibits variations in GC content across its genome that correlate with global expression level, average intron size, and codon usage bias. Although Chlorella species have been assumed to be asexual and nonmotile, the NC64A genome encodes all the known meiosis-specific proteins and a subset of proteins found in flagella. We hypothesize that Chlorella might have retained a flagella-derived structure that could be involved in sexual reproduction. Furthermore, a survey of phytohormone pathways in chlorophyte algae identified algal orthologs of Arabidopsis thaliana genes involved in hormone biosynthesis and signaling, suggesting that these functions were established prior to the evolution of land plants. We show that the ability of Chlorella to produce chitinous cell walls likely resulted from the capture of metabolic genes by horizontal gene transfer from algal viruses, prokaryotes, or fungi. Analysis of the NC64A genome substantially advances our understanding of the green lineage evolution, including the genomic interplay with viruses and symbiosis between eukaryotes.

  • Received May 6, 2010.
  • Revised July 15, 2010.
  • Accepted September 1, 2010.
  • Published September 17, 2010.
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The Chlorella variabilis NC64A Genome Reveals Adaptation to Photosymbiosis, Coevolution with Viruses, and Cryptic Sex
Guillaume Blanc, Garry Duncan, Irina Agarkova, Mark Borodovsky, James Gurnon, Alan Kuo, Erika Lindquist, Susan Lucas, Jasmyn Pangilinan, Juergen Polle, Asaf Salamov, Astrid Terry, Takashi Yamada, David D. Dunigan, Igor V. Grigoriev, Jean-Michel Claverie, James L. Van Etten
The Plant Cell Sep 2010, 22 (9) 2943-2955; DOI: 10.1105/tpc.110.076406

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The Chlorella variabilis NC64A Genome Reveals Adaptation to Photosymbiosis, Coevolution with Viruses, and Cryptic Sex
Guillaume Blanc, Garry Duncan, Irina Agarkova, Mark Borodovsky, James Gurnon, Alan Kuo, Erika Lindquist, Susan Lucas, Jasmyn Pangilinan, Juergen Polle, Asaf Salamov, Astrid Terry, Takashi Yamada, David D. Dunigan, Igor V. Grigoriev, Jean-Michel Claverie, James L. Van Etten
The Plant Cell Sep 2010, 22 (9) 2943-2955; DOI: 10.1105/tpc.110.076406
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The Plant Cell Online: 22 (9)
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Vol. 22, Issue 9
Sep 2010
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