Gene Transfer from Bacteria and Archaea Facilitated Evolution of an Extremophilic Eukaryote

Some microbial eukaryotes, such as the extremophilic red alga Galdieria sulphuraria, live in hot, toxic metal-rich, acidic environments. To elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of adaptation, we sequenced the 13.7-megabase genome of G. sulphuraria. This alga shows an enormous metabolic flex...

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Published in:Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) 2013-03, Vol.339 (6124), p.1207-1210
Main Authors: Schönknecht, Gerald, Chen, Wei-Hua, Ternes, Chad M., Barbier, Guillaume G., Shrestha, Roshan P., Stanke, Mario, Bräutigam, Andrea, Baker, Brett J., Banfield, Jillian F., Garavito, R. Michael, Carr, Kevin, Wilkerson, Curtis, Rensing, Stefan A., Gagneul, David, Dickenson, Nicholas E., Oesterhelt, Christine, Lercher, Martin J., Weber, Andreas P. M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adaptation, Physiological - genetics
Adenosine triphosphatases
Adenosine Triphosphatases - genetics
Algae
Archaea
Archaea - classification
Archaea - genetics
Bacteria
Bacteria - classification
Bacteria - genetics
Coding
Cyanobacteria
DNA, Algal
Eukaryotes
Eukaryotic cells
Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Extremophiles
Galdieria sulphuraria
Gene Transfer, Horizontal
Genes, Archaeal
Genes, Bacterial
Genome, Plant - genetics
Genomes
Life Sciences
Phylogeny
Protein metabolism
Proteins
Rhodophyta - genetics
Rhodophyta - microbiology
Rhodophyta - physiology
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Summary:Some microbial eukaryotes, such as the extremophilic red alga Galdieria sulphuraria, live in hot, toxic metal-rich, acidic environments. To elucidate the underlying molecular mechanisms of adaptation, we sequenced the 13.7-megabase genome of G. sulphuraria. This alga shows an enormous metabolic flexibility, growing either photoautotrophically or heterotrophically on more than 50 carbon sources. Environmental adaptation seems to have been facilitated by horizontal gene transfer from various bacteria and archaea, often followed by gene family expansion. At least 5% of protein-coding genes of G. sulphuraria were probably acquired horizontally. These proteins are involved in ecologically important processes ranging from heavy-metal detoxification to glycerol uptake and metabolism. Thus, our findings show that a pan-domain gene pool has facilitated environmental adaptation in this unicellular eukaryote.
ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1231707