Abstract
Most eukaryotic microbial diversity is uncultivated, under-studied and lacks nuclear genome data. Mitochondrial genome sampling is more comprehensive, but many phylogenetically important groups remain unsampled. Here, using a single-cell sorting approach combining tubulin-specific labelling with photopigment exclusion, we sorted flagellated heterotrophic unicellular eukaryotes from Pacific Ocean samples. We recovered 206 single amplified genomes, predominantly from underrepresented branches on the tree of life. Seventy single amplified genomes contained unique mitochondrial contigs, including 21 complete or near-complete mitochondrial genomes from formerly under-sampled phylogenetic branches, including telonemids, katablepharids, cercozoans and marine stramenopiles, effectively doubling the number of available samples of heterotrophic flagellate mitochondrial genomes. Collectively, these data identify a dynamic history of mitochondrial genome evolution including intron gain and loss, extensive patterns of genetic code variation and complex patterns of gene loss. Surprisingly, we found that stramenopile mitochondrial content is highly plastic, resembling patterns of variation previously observed only in plants.
Original language | English |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 154-165 |
Number of pages | 12 |
Journal | Nature Microbiology |
Volume | 5 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Jan 1 2020 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:We thank F. Lang and N. Beck for annotation assistance and access to an unreleased version of mfannot, D. Price for assistance with picozoan SAG data, and C. Dunn for discussions and encouragement. This project was supported by a Gordon and Betty Moore foundation grant (GBMF3307) to T.A.R., A.E.S., A.Z.W. and P.J.K. and a Philip Leverhulme Award (PLP-2014–147) to T.A.R.. Field sampling was supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and GBMF3788 to A.Z.W., T.A.R. and A.M. are supported by Royal Society University Research Fellowships. J.G.W. was supported by the European Molecular Biology Organization Long-term Fellowship (ALTF 761–2014) co-funded by the European Commission (EMBOCOFUND2012, GA-2012–600394) support from Marie Curie Actions and a College for Life Sciences Fellowship at the Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin. R.R.-M. is supported by CONICYT FONDECYT 11170748. F.M. is supported by Genome Canada.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Limited.
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Microbiology
- Immunology
- Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
- Genetics
- Microbiology (medical)
- Cell Biology
PubMed: MeSH publication types
- Comparative Study
- Journal Article
- Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't