Clues about the genetic basis of adaptation emerge from comparing the proteomes of two Ostreococcus ecotypes (Chlorophyta, Prasinophyceae). - Université Pierre et Marie Curie Access content directly
Journal Articles Molecular Biology and Evolution Year : 2008

Clues about the genetic basis of adaptation emerge from comparing the proteomes of two Ostreococcus ecotypes (Chlorophyta, Prasinophyceae).

Abstract

We compared the proteomes of two picoplanktonic Ostreococcus unicellular green algal ecotypes to analyze the genetic basis of their adaptation with their ecological niches. We first investigated the function of the species-specific genes using Gene Ontology databases and similarity searches. Although most species-specific genes had no known function, we identified several species-specific functions involved in various cellular processes, which could be critical for environmental adaptations. Additionally, we investigated the rate of evolution of orthologous genes and its distribution across chromosomes. We show that faster evolving genes encode significantly more membrane or excreted proteins, consistent with the notion that selection acts on cell surface modifications that is driven by selection for resistance to viruses and grazers, keystone actors of phytoplankton evolution. The relationship between GC content and chromosome length also suggests that both strains have experienced recombination since their divergence and that lack of recombination on the two outlier chromosomes could explain part of their peculiar genomic features, including higher rates of evolution.
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halsde-00459220 , version 1 (23-02-2010)

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Séverine Jancek, Sébastien Gourbière, Hervé Moreau, Gwenaël Piganeau. Clues about the genetic basis of adaptation emerge from comparing the proteomes of two Ostreococcus ecotypes (Chlorophyta, Prasinophyceae).. Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2008, 25 (11), pp.2293-300. ⟨10.1093/molbev/msn168⟩. ⟨halsde-00459220⟩
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