Reports

Picobiliphytes: A Marine Picoplanktonic Algal Group with Unknown Affinities to Other Eukaryotes

Fabrice Not,^1* Klaus Valentin,² Khadidja Romari,¹ Connie Lovejoy,³ Ramon Massana,⁴ Kerstin Töbe,² Daniel Vaulot,¹ Linda K. Medlin²

Environmental sequencing has revealed unimagined diversity among eukaryotic picoplankton. A distinct picoplanktonic algal group, initially detected from 18S ribosomal DNA (rDNA) sequences, was hybridized with rRNA -targeted (rRNA-targeted) probes, detected by tyramide signal amplification–fluorescent in situ hybridization, and showed an organelle-like body with orange fluorescence indicative of phycobilins. Using this fluorescence signal, cells were sorted by flow cytometry and probed. Hybridized cells contained a 4',6'-diamidino-2-phenylindole–stained organelle resembling a plastid with a nucleomorph. This suggests that they may be secondary endosymbiotic algae. Pending the isolation of living cells and their formal description, these algae have been termed picobiliphytes.

¹ Station Biologique de Roscoff, UMR 7144 CNRS and Université Pierre et Marie Curie, Boîte Postale 74, 29682 Roscoff Cedex, France.
² Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research, Am Handelshafen 12, D.27570 Bremerhaven, Germany.
³ Québec Ocean, Département de Biologie, Université Laval, Quebec, QC Canada G1K 7P4.
⁴ Institut de Ciències del Mar, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.

^* Present address: Institut de Ciències del Mar, Passeig Marítim de la Barceloneta 37-49, 08003 Barcelona, Spain.

These authors contributed equally to this work.

Present address: Albany Molecular Research, BRC 18804 North Creek Parkway, Bothell, WA 98011–8012, USA.

To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lkmedlin{at}awi-bremerhaven.de (L.M.); not{at}icm.csic.es (F.N.)

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Large-Scale Phylogenomic Analyses Reveal That Two Enigmatic Protist Lineages, Telonemia and Centroheliozoa, Are Related to Photosynthetic Chromalveolates.

F. Burki, Y. Inagaki, J. Brate, J. M. Archibald, P. J. Keeling, T. Cavalier-Smith, M. Sakaguchi, T. Hashimoto, A. Horak, S. Kumar, et al. (2009)
Gen Biol Evol 2009, 231-238
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Ancient Recruitment by Chromists of Green Algal Genes Encoding Enzymes for Carotenoid Biosynthesis.

R. Frommolt, S. Werner, H. Paulsen, R. Goss, C. Wilhelm, S. Zauner, U. G. Maier, A. R. Grossman, D. Bhattacharya, and M. Lohr (2008)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 25, 2653-2667
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Feasibility of Assessing the Community Composition of Prasinophytes at the Helgoland Roads Sampling Site with a DNA Microarray.

C. Gescher, K. Metfies, S. Frickenhaus, B. Knefelkamp, K. H. Wiltshire, and L. K. Medlin (2008)
Appl. Envir. Microbiol. 74, 5305-5316
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A Cryptic Algal Group Unveiled: A Plastid Biosynthesis Pathway in the Oyster Parasite Perkinsus marinus.

M. Matsuzaki, H. Kuroiwa, T. Kuroiwa, K. Kita, and H. Nozaki (2008)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 25, 1167-1179
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Molecular systematics of the Pleurochrysidaceae, a family of coastal coccolithophores (Haptophyta).

A. G. Saez, A. Zaldivar-Riveron, and L. K. Medlin (2008)
J. Plankton Res. 30, 559-566
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Phylogenomic Analysis Supports the Monophyly of Cryptophytes and Haptophytes and the Association of Rhizaria with Chromalveolates.

J. D. Hackett, H. S. Yoon, S. Li, A. Reyes-Prieto, S. E. Rummele, and D. Bhattacharya (2007)
Mol. Biol. Evol. 24, 1702-1713
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