Corallicolids: The elusive coral-infecting apicomplexans

• Published in: PLoS pathogens 2021-09, Vol.17 (9), p.e1009845-e1009845
• Main Authors: Keeling, Patrick J, Mathur, Varsha, Kwong, Waldan K
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae; Bacteria; Biodiversity; Biology and Life Sciences; Contaminants; Coral reefs; Corals; Diseases; DNA-directed RNA polymerase; Earth Sciences; Endosymbionts; Environmental aspects; Enzymes; Genes; Genomes; Host-parasite relationships; Identification and classification; Mitochondria; Organelles; Parasites; Pearls; Photosynthesis; Phylogenetics; Phylogeny; Physical Sciences; Physiological aspects; Plastids; Polls & surveys; Protochlorophyllide; Protochlorophyllide reductase; Reductases; RNA polymerase; rRNA 16S; Sporozoa; Subgroups; Substrates
• ISSN: 1553-7374; 1553-7366; 1553-7374
• DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1009845

DPOR, dark-operative protochlorophyllide reductase; RNAP, RNA polymerase. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009845.g002 How do you discover a eukaryotic parasite from bacterial ecological data? Mitochondria and plastid organelles are derived from ancient bacterial endosymbionts, and most retain a relict genome that encodes the small subunit rRNA gene (SSU rRNA or 16S rRNA) used in ecological surveys. [...]millions of eukaryotic plastids are represented in rRNA surveys but are often either overlooked, filtered out as contaminants, or misattributed to unknown or “novel” phyla of bacteria. In the case of coral-associated 16S rRNA surveys, a detailed phylogenetic analysis of these plastid “contaminants” showed that most of them fell within known groups of algae, with one major exception: thousands of sequences that branched in several subgroups as sister to the plastids of apicomplexan parasites [14,18]. [...]virtually, all of these apicomplexan-related lineages (ARLs) came from studies of coral or other substrates in the reef.