Putatively asexual chrysophytes have meiotic genes: evidence from transcriptomic data

PeerJ

article

Diana Kraus¹  Jingyun Chi¹  Jens Boenigk²  Daniela Beisser²  Nadine Graupner²  Micah Dunthorn¹ 

[1] Department of Ecology, University of Kaiserslautern;Department of Biodiversity, University of Duisburg-Essen;Centre for Water and Environmental Research ,(ZWU), University of Duisburg-Essen;Department of Eukaryotic Microbiology, University of Duisburg-Essen

关键词: Asexuality;    Meiosis;    Crossover pathways;    Sex;   

DOI  :  10.7717/peerj.5894

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: Inra

【 摘 要 】

Chrysophytes are a large group of heterotrophic, phototrophic, or even mixotrophic protists that are abundant in aquatic as well as terrestrial environments. Although much is known about chrysophyte biology and ecology, it is unknown if they are sexual or not. Here we use available transcriptomes of 18 isolates of 15 putatively asexual species to inventory the presence of genes used in meiosis. Since we were able to detect a set of nine meiosis-specific and 29 meiosis-related genes shared by the chrysophytes, we conclude that they are secretively sexual and therefore should be investigated further using genome sequencing to uncover any missed genes from the transcriptomes.

【 授权许可】

CC BY