What is the genetic basis of desiccation tolerance in desert algae?
What is the genetic basis of desiccation tolerance in desert algae?
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Desiccation tolerance in desert-evolved algae is achieved through tight regulation of the full metabolism of the organism, and not just the expression of key genes (Peredo and Cardon, 2020). To understand the genomic underpinnings of the evolution of desiccation tolerance, I received support from DOE’s Joint Genome Institute Community Sequencing Program (E.L. Peredo as PI, JGI Proposal Id: 502973). The genomes of four closely-related species of microalga, specifically of independently evolved desert species Tetradesmus deserticola and Flechtneria rotunda, and closely related aquatic taxa, Tetradesmus obliquus, and Enallax costatus were completed in November 2021.
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Peredo EL & Cardon ZG. (2020) Shared up-regulation and contrasting down-regulation of gene expression distinguish desiccation-tolerant from intolerant green algae. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 10.1073/pnas.1906904117
Stark J, Cardon Z, Peredo EL. (2020) Extraction of high-quality, high molecular-weight DNA depends heavily on cell homogenization methods in green microalgae. Applications in Plant Sciences, 8(3), e11333.
Cardon Z, EL Peredo, A Dohnalkova, H Gershone, M Bezanilla. (2018)A model suite of green algae within the Scenedesmaceae for investigating contrasting desiccation tolerance and morphology . Journal of Cell Science. Published 10 April 2018
Evolutionary consequences of re-colonization of aquatic environments
Evolutionary consequences of re-colonization of aquatic environments
During my research at UCONN with Don Les Lab, I explored the evolution, origin, and genetic relationships among the different species of aquatic angiosperm Najas. The genus Najas is composed of over 50 species, all of them obligate aquatics. One of the more striking characteristics of the water nymphs is that they are one of the few plants able to develop their complete vital cycle, including pollination, underwater. The modified structure of the N. flexilis plastid genome suggests that adaptation to submersed environments, where light is scarce, was accompanied by the loss of the highly conserved NDH complex.
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EL Peredo, U King, D Les. (2013) Najas flexilis plastid genome: adaptation to submerged environments lead to the complete loss of the ndh complex in an aquatic angiosperms. Plos One 8: e68591
EL Peredo, D Les, U King, L Benoit. (2012) Extreme conservation of the psaA/psaB intercistronic spacer reveals a translational motif coincident with the evolution of land plants. J Mol Evol 75:184–197.
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