Biogeographical Patterns and Genomes of Aquatic Photoautotrophs
Abstract
Almost half of photosynthesis on Earth occurs in marine and freshwater environments; hence, aquatic photosynthetic organisms have an enormous impact on food webs and on the biogeochemistry of the entire Earth System. In this chapter, the authors provide an overview of the main groups of aquatic photoautotrophs, exploring their complex evolutionary histories, and the diversity and limitations of genome and transcriptome data from cultured species for understanding algal biology. They consider how metagenomic and metatranscriptomic data generated by the Tara Oceans expeditions has unveiled patterns of algal biogeography and mechanisms of adaptation and acclimation to the marine environment, changing our understanding of how the dominant groups of algae function in the open ocean. The authors also present the current phylogenetic and biogeographical diversity of available algal nuclear genomes and transcriptomes, based on the manually verified isolation sites of the source cultures sequenced
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