Reyes-Prieto, A. - University of New Brunswick

研究领域

The context of my research program I am deeply interested to understand molecular and cellular mechanisms underlying the establishment of endosymbiotic associations. My research work particularly focuses on the origin and evolution of photosynthetic organelles in eukaryote cells. In recent years, comparative genomics of photosynthetic eukaryotes and their non-photosynthetic relatives have generated major insights into the critical cellular processes involved in the transformation of free-living cells into obligated endosymbionts, such as the magnitude and role of gene transference, mechanisms of genome reduction, and possible cases of multiple and subsequent endosymbioses. The origin of primary plastids and the Plantae. The putative ancestor of Plantae supergroup was a phagotrophic protist that consumed cyanobacteria as food. Gene transfer events from the cyanobacterial endosymbiont to the host nucleus either resulted in their decay and loss or occasional gene replacement. The transfer and activation of key genes from the cyanobacterium facilitated the transition to mixotrophy. The mixotrophic ancestor continued to consume bacterial preys, harvesting genes and eventually evolved into a regulated metabolic connection between the cyanobacterial endosymbiont and the host cytosol. These key molecular events cemented the symbiotic relationship and led to selection for massive gene loss in the endosymbiont and gene transfer into the host nucleus. The final transition occurred in a prey-poor environment that favored phototrophy. Thereafter the ancestral alga lost the ability for phagotrophy and became predominantly photoautotrophic (see references below). Considerable molecular evidence suggest that the extant algal groups bearing plastids surrounded by two membranes, formally named Plantae, which includes Glaucophytes, Red algae and Chlorobionts (green algae and land plants), descended from common ancestors that recruited endosymbiotic cyanobacteria as organelles more than a billion years in the past. Testing this hypothesis of common origin of the Plantae supergroup is essential to elucidate and understand the emergence of the first photosynthetic eukaryotes. One avenue to study this hypothesis is through comparative studies of the genetic and protein repertoires from the different Plantae lineages. Green algae and land plants have been thoroughly studied in this respect, but this is not the case for Red algae and Glaucophytes.

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Reyes-Prieto A, Yoon HS, Moustafa A, Yang EC, Andersen RA, Boo SM, Nakayama T, Ishida K, Bhattacharya D. Differential gene retention in plastids of common recent origin. Mol Biol Evol. 2010, 27:1530-1537. Yoon HS*, Nakayama T*, Reyes-Prieto A*, Andersen RA, Boo SM, Ishida K, Bhattacharya D. A single origin of the photosynthetic organelle in different Paulinella lineages. BMC Evol Biol. 2009, 9: 98. (*Equal contributors) Reyes-Prieto A, Moustafa A, Bhattacharya D. Multiple genes of apparent algal origin suggest ciliates may once have been photosynthetic. Curr Biol. 2008, 18: 956-962. Moustafa A*, Reyes-Prieto A*, Bhattacharya D. Chlamydiae has contributed at least 55 genes to Plantae with predominantly plastid functions. PLoS ONE. 2008 3: e2205 (*Equal contributors) Reyes-Prieto A, Weber AP, Bhattacharya D. The Origin and Establishment of the Plastid in Algae and Plants. Annu Rev Genet. 2007, 41: 147-168 Reyes-Prieto A, Hackett JD, Soares MB, Bonaldo MF, Bhattacharya D. Cyanobacterial contribution to algal nuclear genomes is primarily limited to plastid functions. Curr Biol. 2006, 16: 2320-2325.