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MBE Advance Access published online on January 23, 2007
Molecular Biology and Evolution, doi:10.1093/molbev/msm012
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© The Author 2007. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society for Molecular Biology and Evolution. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Research Article

The Complete Chloroplast and Mitochondrial DNA Sequence of Ostreococcus tauri: Organelle Genomes of the Smallest Eukaryote are Examples of Compaction

Steven Robbens1,*, Evelyne Derelle2,*, Conchita Ferraz3, Jan Wuyts1, Hervé Moreau2 and Yves Van de Peer1

1 Department of Plant Systems Biology, Flanders Interuniversity Institute for Biotechnology (VIB), Ghent University, Technologiepark 927, B-9052 Ghent, Belgium
2 UMR 7628 CNRS, Université Paris VI, Laboratoire Arago, BP44, 66651 Banyuls sur Mer, France
3 Institut de Génétique Humaine, UPR CNRS 1142, 141 rue Cardonille, 34396 Montpellier Cedex5, France

Author for correspondence: yves.vandepeer{at}psb.ugent.be, Tel + 32 (0) 9 33 13 807, Fax + 32 (0) 9 33 13 809

Accepted for publication January 18, 2007.

The complete nucleotide sequence of the mitochondrial and chloroplast genomes of the unicellular green alga Ostreococcus tauri has been determined. The mitochondrial genome assembles as a circle of 44,237 bp and contains 65 genes. With an overall average length of only 42 bp for the intergenic regions, this is the most gene-dense mitochondrial genome of all Chlorophyta. Furthermore, it is characterised by a unique segmental duplication, encompassing 22 genes and covering 44% of the genome. Such a duplication has not been observed before in green algae, although it is also present in the mitochondrial genomes of higher plants. The quadripartite chloroplast genome forms a circle of 71,666 bp, containing 86 genes divided over a larger and a smaller single copy region, separated by two inverted repeat sequences. Based on genome size and number of genes, the Ostreococcus chloroplast genome is the smallest known among the green algae. Phylogenetic analyses based on a concatenated alignment of chloroplast, mitochondrial and nuclear genes confirm the position of Ostreococcus tauri within the Prasinophyceae, an early branch of the Chlorophyta.

Key Words: Chloroplast genome • Mitochondrial genome • Chlorophyta • Ostreococcus tauri

* contributed equally

Data deposition: The genome data have been submitted to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, www.embl.org [accession nos. CR954200 (Mitochondrial genome) and CR954199 (Chloroplast genome)] or can be found at http://bioinformatics.psb.ugent.be/


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