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The Biochemistry and Evolution of the Dinoflagellate Nucleus

Dinoflagellates are known to possess a highly aberrant nucleus—the so-called dinokaryon—that exhibits a multitude of exceptional biological features. These include: (1) Permanently condensed chromosomes; (2) DNA in a cholesteric liquid crystalline state, (3) extremely large DNA content (up to 200 pg...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Gornik, Sebastian G., Hu, Ian, Lassadi, Imen, Waller, Ross F.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2019
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6723414/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31398798
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7080245
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author Gornik, Sebastian G.
Hu, Ian
Lassadi, Imen
Waller, Ross F.
author_facet Gornik, Sebastian G.
Hu, Ian
Lassadi, Imen
Waller, Ross F.
author_sort Gornik, Sebastian G.
collection PubMed
description Dinoflagellates are known to possess a highly aberrant nucleus—the so-called dinokaryon—that exhibits a multitude of exceptional biological features. These include: (1) Permanently condensed chromosomes; (2) DNA in a cholesteric liquid crystalline state, (3) extremely large DNA content (up to 200 pg); and, perhaps most strikingly, (4) a deficit of histones—the canonical building blocks of all eukaryotic chromatin. Dinoflagellates belong to the Alveolata clade (dinoflagellates, apicomplexans, and ciliates) and, therefore, the biological oddities observed in dinoflagellate nuclei are derived character states. Understanding the sequence of changes that led to the dinokaryon has been difficult in the past with poor resolution of dinoflagellate phylogeny. Moreover, lack of knowledge of their molecular composition has constrained our understanding of the molecular properties of these derived nuclei. However, recent advances in the resolution of the phylogeny of dinoflagellates, particularly of the early branching taxa; the realization that divergent histone genes are present; and the discovery of dinoflagellate-specific nuclear proteins that were acquired early in dinoflagellate evolution have all thrown new light nature and evolution of the dinokaryon.
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spelling pubmed-67234142019-09-10 The Biochemistry and Evolution of the Dinoflagellate Nucleus Gornik, Sebastian G. Hu, Ian Lassadi, Imen Waller, Ross F. Microorganisms Review Dinoflagellates are known to possess a highly aberrant nucleus—the so-called dinokaryon—that exhibits a multitude of exceptional biological features. These include: (1) Permanently condensed chromosomes; (2) DNA in a cholesteric liquid crystalline state, (3) extremely large DNA content (up to 200 pg); and, perhaps most strikingly, (4) a deficit of histones—the canonical building blocks of all eukaryotic chromatin. Dinoflagellates belong to the Alveolata clade (dinoflagellates, apicomplexans, and ciliates) and, therefore, the biological oddities observed in dinoflagellate nuclei are derived character states. Understanding the sequence of changes that led to the dinokaryon has been difficult in the past with poor resolution of dinoflagellate phylogeny. Moreover, lack of knowledge of their molecular composition has constrained our understanding of the molecular properties of these derived nuclei. However, recent advances in the resolution of the phylogeny of dinoflagellates, particularly of the early branching taxa; the realization that divergent histone genes are present; and the discovery of dinoflagellate-specific nuclear proteins that were acquired early in dinoflagellate evolution have all thrown new light nature and evolution of the dinokaryon. MDPI 2019-08-08 /pmc/articles/PMC6723414/ /pubmed/31398798 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7080245 Text en © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Review
Gornik, Sebastian G.
Hu, Ian
Lassadi, Imen
Waller, Ross F.
The Biochemistry and Evolution of the Dinoflagellate Nucleus
title The Biochemistry and Evolution of the Dinoflagellate Nucleus
title_full The Biochemistry and Evolution of the Dinoflagellate Nucleus
title_fullStr The Biochemistry and Evolution of the Dinoflagellate Nucleus
title_full_unstemmed The Biochemistry and Evolution of the Dinoflagellate Nucleus
title_short The Biochemistry and Evolution of the Dinoflagellate Nucleus
title_sort biochemistry and evolution of the dinoflagellate nucleus
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6723414/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/31398798
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms7080245
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