Mitochondria are best known for their role in the generation of ATP by aerobic respiration. Yet, research in the past half century has shown that they perform a much larger suite of functions and that these functions can vary substantially among diverse eukaryotic lineages. Despite this diversity, all mitochondria derive from a common ancestral organelle that originated from the integration of an endosymbiotic alphaproteobacterium into a host cell related to Asgard Archaea. The transition from endosymbiotic bacterium to permanent organelle entailed a massive number of evolutionary changes including the origins of hundreds of new genes and a protein import system, insertion of membrane transporters, integration of metabolism and reproduction, genome reduction, endosymbiotic gene transfer, lateral gene transfer and the retargeting of proteins. These changes occurred incrementally as the endosymbiont and the host became integrated. Although many insights into this transition have been gained, controversy persists regarding the nature of the original endosymbiont, its initial interactions with the host and the timing of its integration relative to the origin of other features of eukaryote cells. Since the establishment of the organelle, proteins have been gained, lost, transferred and retargeted as mitochondria have specialized into the spectrum of functional types seen across the eukaryotic tree of life.

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The division of life into producers and consumers is blurred by evolution. For example, eukaryotic phototrophs can lose the capacity to photosynthesize, although they may retain vestigial plastids that perform other essential cellular functions. Chrysophyte algae have undergone a particularly large number of photosynthesis losses. Here, we present a plastid genome sequence from a nonphotosynthetic chrysophyte, "Spumella" sp. NIES-1846, and show that it has retained a nearly identical set of plastid-encoded functions as apicomplexan parasites. Our transcriptomic analysis of 12 different photosynthetic and nonphotosynthetic chrysophyte lineages reveals remarkable convergence in the functions of these nonphotosynthetic plastids, along with informative lineage-specific retentions and losses. At one extreme, Cornospumella fuschlensis retains many photosynthesis-associated proteins, although it appears to have lost the reductive pentose phosphate pathway and most plastid amino acid metabolism pathways. At the other extreme, Paraphysomonas lacks plastid-targeted proteins associated with gene expression and all metabolic pathways that require plastidencoded partners, indicating a complete loss of plastid DNA in this genus. Intriguingly, some of the nucleus-encoded proteins that once functioned in the expression of the Paraphysomonas plastid genome have been retained. These proteins were likely to have been dual targeted to the plastid and mitochondria of the chrysophyte ancestor, and are uniquely targeted to the mitochondria in Paraphysomonas. Our comparative analyses provide insights into the process of functional reduction in nonphotosynthetic plastids. heterotrophy | ochrophyte | phylogenomics | dual targeting | protist

The evolution of mitochondria and plastids from bacterial endosymbionts were key events in the origin and diversification of eukaryotic cells. Although the ancient nature of these organelles makes it difficult to understand the earliest events that led to their establishment, the study of eukaryotic cells with recently evolved obligate endosymbiotic bacteria has the potential to provide important insight into the transformation of endosymbionts into organelles. Diatoms belonging to the family Rhopalodiaceae and their endosymbionts of cyanobacterial origin (i.e., "spheroid bodies") are emerging as a useful model system in this regard. The spheroid bodies, which appear to enable rhopalodiacean diatoms to use gaseous nitrogen, became established after the divergence of extant diatom families. Here we report what is, to our knowledge, the first complete genome sequence of a spheroid body, that of the rhopalodiacean diatom Epithemia turgida. The E. turgida spheroid body (EtSB) genome was found to possess a gene set for nitrogen fixation, as anticipated, but is reduced in size and gene repertoire compared with the genomes of their closest known free-living relatives. The presence of numerous pseudogenes in the EtSB genome suggests that genome reduction is ongoing. Most strikingly, our genomic data convincingly show that the EtSB has lost photosynthetic ability and is metabolically dependent on its host cell, unprecedented characteristics among cyanobacteria, and cyanobacterial symbionts. The diatom-spheroid body endosymbiosis is thus a unique system for investigating the processes underlying the integration of a bacterial endosymbiont into eukaryotic cells.photosynthesis | organelle evolution | pseudogenization

Recent phylogenetic analyses position certain “orphan” protist lineages deep in the tree of eukaryotic life, but their exact placements are poorly resolved. We conducted phylogenomic analyses that incorporate deeply sequenced transcriptomes from representatives of collodictyonids (diphylleids), rigifilids, Mantamonas, and ancyromonads (planomonads). Analyses of 351 genes, using site-heterogeneous mixture models, strongly support a novel super-group-level clade that includes collodictyonids, rigifilids, and Mantamonas, which we name “CRuMs”. Further, they robustly place CRuMs as the closest branch to Amorphea (including animals and fungi). Ancyromonads are strongly inferred to be more distantly related to Amorphea than are CRuMs. They emerge either as sister to malawimonads, or as a separate deeper branch. CRuMs and ancyromonads represent two distinct major groups that branch deeply on the lineage that includes animals, near the most commonly inferred root of the eukaryote tree. This makes both groups crucial in examinations of the deepest-level history of extant eukaryotes.

Phylogenetic position of the marine biflagellate Palpitomonas bilix is intriguing, since several ultrastructural characteristics implied its evolutionary connection to Archaeplastida or Hacrobia. The origin and early evolution of these two eukaryotic assemblages have yet to be fully elucidated, and P. bilix may be a key lineage in tracing those groups' early evolution. In the present study, we analyzed a ‘phylogenomic' alignment of 157 genes to clarify the position of P. bilix in eukaryotic phylogeny. In the 157-gene phylogeny, P. bilix was found to be basal to a clade of cryptophytes, goniomonads and kathablepharids, collectively known as Cryptista, which is proposed to be a part of the larger taxonomic assemblage Hacrobia. We here discuss the taxonomic assignment of P. bilix, and character evolution in Cryptista.

Nonphotosynthetic plastids retain important biological functions and are indispensable for cell viability. However, the detailed processes underlying the loss of plastidal functions other than photosynthesis remain to be fully understood. In this study, we used transcriptomics, subcellular localization, and phylogenetic analyses to characterize the biochemical complexity of the nonphotosynthetic plastids of the apochlorotic diatom Nitzschia sp. NIES-3581. We found that these plastids have lost isopentenyl pyrophosphate biosynthesis and ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase-based carbon fixation but have retained various proteins for other metabolic pathways, including amino acid biosynthesis, and a portion of the Calvin-Benson cycle comprised only of glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and the reductive pentose phosphate pathway (rPPP). While most genes for plastid proteins involved in these reactions appear to be phylogenetically related to plastid-targeted proteins found in photosynthetic relatives, we also identified a gene that most likely originated from a cytosolic protein gene. Based on organellar metabolic reconstructions of Nitzschia sp. NIES-3581 and the presence/absence of plastid sugar phosphate transporters, we propose that plastid proteins for glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and rPPP are retained even after the loss of photosynthesis because they feed indispensable substrates to the amino acid biosynthesis pathways of the plastid. Given the correlated retention of the enzymes for plastid glycolysis, gluconeogenesis, and rPPP and those for plastid amino acid biosynthesis pathways in distantly related nonphotosynthetic plastids and cyanobacteria, we suggest that this substrate-level link with plastid amino acid biosynthesis is a key constraint against loss of the plastid glycolysis/gluconeogenesis and rPPP proteins in multiple independent lineages of nonphotosynthetic algae/plants.

A novel thermophilic, chemoheterotrophic, Gram-negative-staining, multicellular filamentous bacterium, designated strain 110ST, was isolated from an iron-rich coastal hydrothermal field in Japan. The isolate is facultatively aerobic and chemoheterotrophic. Phylogenetic analysis using 16S rRNA gene sequences nested strain 110ST in a novel class-level clone cluster of the phylum ‘ Chloroflexi ’. The isolate grows by dissimilatory iron- and nitrate-reduction under anaerobic conditions, which is the first report of these abilities in the phylum ‘ Chloroflexi ’. The organism is capable of growth with oxygen, ferric iron and nitrate as a possible electron acceptor, has a wide range of growth temperatures, and tolerates higher NaCl concentrations for growth compared to the other isolates in the phylum. Using phenotypic and phylogenetic data, strain 110ST ( = JCM 17282T = NBRC 107679T = DSM 23922T = KCTC 23289T = ATCC BAA-2145T) is proposed as the type strain of a novel species in a new genus, Ardenticatena maritima gen. nov., sp. nov. In addition, as strain 110ST apparently constitutes a new class of the phylum ‘ Chloroflexi ’ with other related uncultivated clone sequences, we propose Ardenticatenia classis nov. and the subordinate taxa Ardenticatenales ord. nov. and Ardenticatenaceae fam. nov.