Horizontal gene transfer (HGT) is the sharing of genetic material between organisms that are
not in a parent–offspring relationship. HGT is a widely recognized mechanism for adaptation …

Highlights•Endosymbiotic theory explains why organelles resemble free-living
bacteria.•Gene trees are well-suited to testing endosymbiotic theory, but not to replacing …

In their natural environment plants and algae are exposed to rapidly changing light
conditions and light intensities. Illumination with high light intensities has the potential to …

The green lineage (Viridiplantae) comprises the green algae and their descendants the land
plants, and is one of the major groups of oxygenic photosynthetic eukaryotes. Current …

Molecular phylogenetics has revolutionized our knowledge of the eukaryotic tree of life. With
the advent of genomics, a new discipline of phylogenetics has emerged: phylogenomics …

Diatoms dominate the biomass of phytoplankton in nutrient-rich conditions and form the
basis of some of the world's most productive marine food webs,,,. The diatom nuclear …

Plastids (chloroplasts) have long been recognized to have originated by endosymbiosis of a
cyanobacterium, but their subsequent evolutionary history has proved complex because …

Algal growth is strongly affected by nitrogen (N) availability. Diatoms, an ecologically
important group of unicellular algae, have evolved several acclimation mechanisms to cope …

In contemporary oceans diatoms are an important group of eukaryotic phytoplankton that
typically dominate in upwelling regions and at high latitudes. They also make significant …

Light is necessary for photosynthesis, but its absorption by pigment molecules such as
chlorophyll can cause severe oxidative damage and result in cell death. The excess …