Cryptomonads: Cells within cells

Cryptomonads are natural experiments in genome miniaturization and cell simplification. They are evolutionary chimaeras of a red alga and a non-photosynthetic host but unlike other chromophyte algae they retain the enslaved red algal nucleus as a minute 'nucleomorph'. The sequences of the three nucleomorph chromosomes of one of these elaborate 'Russian doll' cells reveals the most gene-dense eukaryotic genome known. This simplified chromosome could become a valuable model for the study of nuclear function.

The highly reduced genome of an enslaved algal nucleus
SUSAN DOUGLAS, STEFAN ZAUNER, MARTIN FRAUNHOLZ, MARGARET BEATON, SUSANNE PENNY, LANG-TUO DENG, XIAONAN WU, MICHAEL REITH, THOMAS CAVALIER-SMITH & UWE-G MAIER
Nature 410, 1091-1096 (26 April 2001)
| First Paragraph | Full Text | PDF (202 K) | Supplementary Information |

Genome sequencing: A grin without a cat
PAUL R. GILSON & GEOFFREY I. MCFADDEN
In some types of unicellular algae, the chloroplasts have their own nucleus — a legacy of the time when the chloroplast was a free-living cell. The sequence of the genome in one such nucleus is now revealed.
Nature 410, 1040-1041 (26 April 2001)
| Full Text | PDF (470 K) |

26 April 2001 table of contents