Microscopic algae that gobble carbon dioxide and produce 20 percent of the oxygen we breathe are a genetic hodgepodge, a symphony of evolution as composed by Danger Mouse. "These organisms represent a veritable melting pot of traits—a hybrid of genetic mechanisms contributed by ancestral lineages of plants, animals, and bacteria," Chris Bowler, a plant biologist at France's Ecole Normale Supérieure said in a press release. Bowler's team sequenced the genome of a diatom called Phaeodactylum tricornutum, then compared it to a previously sequenced diatom genome. The contrast showed both how rapidly diatoms have evolved and how deeply indebted they are to the primitive creatures that later became plants and animals. The latter contributed genes necessary to produce urea, and the former gave genes responsible for photosynthesis. Another 300 genes appear to come from bacteria — the largest-ever example of horizontal gene transfer in a multi-cellular animal. "Gene transfer between diatoms and other organisms has been extremely common, making diatoms 'transgenic by nature,'" said Bowler. The Phaeodactylum genome reveals the evolutionary history of diatom genomes [Nature] Images: Nature ...
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