@article{e6bb55a2338a46429a510e40a7a548cf,
title = "Genome divergence in two Prochlorococcus ecotypes reflects oceanic niche differentiation",
abstract = "The marine unicellular cyanobacterium Prochlorococcus is the smallest-known oxygen-evolving autotroph. It numerically dominates the phytoplankton in the tropical and subtropical oceans, and is responsible for a significant fraction of global photosynthesis. Here we compare the genomes of two Prochlorococcus strains that span the largest evolutionary distance within the Prochlorococcus lineage and that have different minimum, maximum and optimal light intensities for growth. The high-light-adapted ecotype has the smallest genome (1,657,990 base pairs, 1,716 genes) of any known oxygenic phototroph, whereas the genome of its low-light-adapted counterpart is significantly larger, at 2,410,873 base pairs (2,275 genes). The comparative architectures of these two strains reveal dynamic genomes that are constantly changing in response to myriad selection pressures. Although the two strains have 1,350 genes in common, a significant number are not shared, and these have been differentially retained from the common ancestor, or acquired through duplication or lateral transfer. Some of these genes have obvious roles in determining the relative fitness of the ecotypes in response to key environmental variables, and hence in regulating their distribution and abundance in the oceans.",
author = "Gabrielle Rocap and Larimer, {Frank W.} and Jane Lamerdin and Stephanie Malfatti and Patrick Chain and Ahlgren, {Nathan A.} and Andrae Arellano and Maureen Coleman and Loren Hauser and Hess, {Wolfgang R.} and Johnson, {Zackary I.} and Miriam Land and Debbie Lindell and Post, {Anton F.} and Warren Regala and Manesh Shah and Shaw, {Stephanie L.} and Claudia Steglich and Sullivan, {Matthew B.} and Ting, {Claire S.} and Andrew Tolonen and Webb, {Eric A.} and Zinser, {Erik R.} and Chisholm, {Sallie W.}",
note = "Funding Information: Acknowledgements This research was funded by the Biological and Environmental Research Program of the US Department of Energy{\textquoteright}s Office of Science. The Joint Genome Institute managed the overall sequencing effort. Genome finishing was carried out under the auspices of the US Department of Energy by the University of California, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Computational annotation was carried out at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-BATTELLE for the US Department of Energy. Additional support was provided by the DOE, NSF and the Seaver Foundation to S.W.C., the Israel–US Binational Science Foundation to A.F.P. and S.W.C., and FP5-Margenes to W.R.H. and A.F.P. We thank the Synechococcus WH8102 annotators (B. Palenik, B. Brahamsha, J. McCarren, E. Allen, F. Partensky, A. Dufresne and I. Paulsen) for their help with curating the Prochlorococcus genomes and E. V. Armbrust and L. Moore for critical reading of the manuscript. Funding Information: Acknowledgements We thank the members of the Prochlorococcus annotation team: G. Rocap, S. W. Chisholm, D. Lindell, N. Algren, M. Coleman, W. Hess, A. Post, S. Shaw, C. Steglich, C. Ting, M. Sullivan, A. Tolonen, Z. Johnson and E. Zinser. We also thank T. Lane for discussions about carbonic anhydrases. This research was funded by the Biological and Environmental Research Program and the US Department of Energy{\textquoteright}s Office of Science. Sequencing was carried out and managed at the Joint Genome Institute. Computational analysis was performed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-BATTELLE for the US Department of Energy. Additional support was provided by a DOE grant to B.P, B.B. and I.P., and an NSF grant to B.B. F.P. and A.D. were supported by the EC program Margenes, and by the Region Bretagne.",
year = "2003",
month = aug,
day = "28",
doi = "10.1038/nature01947",
language = "English (US)",
volume = "424",
pages = "1042--1047",
journal = "Nature",
issn = "0028-0836",
publisher = "Nature Research",
number = "6952",
}