A quantitative review of the lifestyle, habitat and trophic diversity of dinoflagellates (Dinoflagellata, Alveolata)

Gómez, Fernando

doi:10.1080/14772000.2012.721021

Cited by 152 publications

(104 citation statements)

References 43 publications

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“…Accordingly, our findings argue that dinoflagellates in general harbor genomic traits that are conducive to the evolution of symbiotic lifestyles (reviewed in ref. 46). At the same time, our enrichment analysis revealed a surprisingly rich repertoire of Symbiodinium -specific transporter expansions, i.e.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomes of coral dinoflagellate symbionts highlight evolutionary adaptations conducive to a symbiotic lifestyle

Aranda

Liew

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

331

355

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Despite half a century of research, the biology of dinoflagellates remains enigmatic: they defy many functional and genetic traits attributed to typical eukaryotic cells. Genomic approaches to study dinoflagellates are often stymied due to their large, multi-gigabase genomes. Members of the genus Symbiodinium are photosynthetic endosymbionts of stony corals that provide the foundation of coral reef ecosystems. Their smaller genome sizes provide an opportunity to interrogate evolution and functionality of dinoflagellate genomes and endosymbiosis. We sequenced the genome of the ancestral Symbiodinium microadriaticum and compared it to the genomes of the more derived Symbiodinium minutum and Symbiodinium kawagutii and eukaryote model systems as well as transcriptomes from other dinoflagellates. Comparative analyses of genome and transcriptome protein sets show that all dinoflagellates, not only Symbiodinium, possess significantly more transmembrane transporters involved in the exchange of amino acids, lipids, and glycerol than other eukaryotes. Importantly, we find that only Symbiodinium harbor an extensive transporter repertoire associated with the provisioning of carbon and nitrogen. Analyses of these transporters show species-specific expansions, which provides a genomic basis to explain differential compatibilities to an array of hosts and environments, and highlights the putative importance of gene duplications as an evolutionary mechanism in dinoflagellates and Symbiodinium.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Genomes of coral dinoflagellate symbionts highlight evolutionary adaptations conducive to a symbiotic lifestyle

Aranda

Liew

et al. 2016

Sci Rep

331

355

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“…Complicating any attempt to address the question is the fact that in many groups of protists phylogeny, morphology and ecology are not clearly related to one another. For example, among the dinoflagellates, gymnodinid dinoflagellates can be benthic, planktonic, phototrophic, mixotrophic, grazers or parasites (see Taylor, 1987;Gomez 2012). In contrast to many microbial taxa, tintinnid ciliates represent an exceptionally coherent group.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The species-rich assemblages of tintinnids (marine planktonic protists) are structured by mouth size

2013

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Many microbial taxa in the marine plankton appear super-saturated in species richness. Here, we provide a partial explanation by analyzing how species are organized, species packing, in terms of both taxonomy and morphology. We focused on a well-studied group, tintinnid ciliates of the microzooplankton, in which feeding ecology is closely linked to morphology. Populations in three distinct systems were examined: an Eastern Mediterranean Gyre, a Western Mediterranean Gyre and the California Current. We found that species abundance distributions exhibited the long-tailed, log distributions typical of most natural assemblages of microbial and other organisms. In contrast, grouping in oral size-classes, which corresponds with prey-size exploited, revealed a geometric distribution consistent with a dominant role of a single resource in structuring an assemblage. The number of species found in a particular oral size-class increases with the numerical importance of the size-class in the overall population. We suggest that high species diversity reflects the fact that accompanying each dominant species are many ecologically similar species, presumably able to replace the dominant species, at least with regard to the size of prey exploited. Such redundancy suggests that species diversity greatly exceeds ecological diversity in the plankton.

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“…dinoflagellates | phylogeny | theca | plastids | dinosterol D inoflagellates comprise approximately 2,400 named extant species, of which approximately half are photosynthetic (1). However, this represents a fraction of their estimated diversity: in surface marine waters, dinoflagellates are some of the most abundant and diverse eukaryotes known (2).…”

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confidence: 99%

Major transitions in dinoflagellate evolution unveiled by phylotranscriptomics

Janouškovec

Gavelis

Burki

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

237

211

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Dinoflagellates are key species in marine environments, but they remain poorly understood in part because of their large, complex genomes, unique molecular biology, and unresolved in-group relationships. We created a taxonomically representative dataset of dinoflagellate transcriptomes and used this to infer a strongly supported phylogeny to map major morphological and molecular transitions in dinoflagellate evolution. Our results show an earlybranching position of Noctiluca, monophyly of thecate (plate-bearing) dinoflagellates, and paraphyly of athecate ones. This represents unambiguous phylogenetic evidence for a single origin of the group's cellulosic theca, which we show coincided with a radiation of cellulases implicated in cell division. By integrating dinoflagellate molecular, fossil, and biogeochemical evidence, we propose a revised model for the evolution of thecal tabulations and suggest that the late acquisition of dinosterol in the group is inconsistent with dinoflagellates being the source of this biomarker in pre-Mesozoic strata. Three distantly related, fundamentally nonphotosynthetic dinoflagellates, Noctiluca, Oxyrrhis, and Dinophysis, contain cryptic plastidial metabolisms and lack alternative cytosolic pathways, suggesting that all free-living dinoflagellates are metabolically dependent on plastids. This finding led us to propose general mechanisms of dependency on plastid organelles in eukaryotes that have lost photosynthesis; it also suggests that the evolutionary origin of bioluminescence in nonphotosynthetic dinoflagellates may be linked to plastidic tetrapyrrole biosynthesis. Finally, we use our phylogenetic framework to show that dinoflagellate nuclei have recruited DNA-binding proteins in three distinct evolutionary waves, which included two independent acquisitions of bacterial histone-like proteins.dinoflagellates | phylogeny | theca | plastids | dinosterol D inoflagellates comprise approximately 2,400 named extant species, of which approximately half are photosynthetic (1). However, this represents a fraction of their estimated diversity: in surface marine waters, dinoflagellates are some of the most abundant and diverse eukaryotes known (2). Dinoflagellates' ecological significance befits their abundance: photosynthetic species are dominant marine primary producers, and phagotrophic species play an important role in the microbial loop through predation and nutrient recycling. Approximately 75-80% of the toxic eukaryotic phytoplankton species are dinoflagellates, and they cause shellfish poisoning and harmful algal blooms of global importance. Symbiotic genera like Symbiodinium participate in interactions with metazoans and are essential for the formation of reef ecosystems, and parasitic forms play a central role in the collapse of harmful algal blooms, including those caused by dinoflagellates themselves (3). Dinoflagellates synthesize important secondary metabolites including sterols, polyketides, toxins, and dimethylsulfide, and several of them have evolved bioluminescence. They ...

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A quantitative review of the lifestyle, habitat and trophic diversity of dinoflagellates (Dinoflagellata, Alveolata)

Cited by 152 publications

References 43 publications

Genomes of coral dinoflagellate symbionts highlight evolutionary adaptations conducive to a symbiotic lifestyle

Genomes of coral dinoflagellate symbionts highlight evolutionary adaptations conducive to a symbiotic lifestyle

The species-rich assemblages of tintinnids (marine planktonic protists) are structured by mouth size

Major transitions in dinoflagellate evolution unveiled by phylotranscriptomics

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