All Outputs (17)

Evolution: The plasticity of plastids (2023)
Journal Article

Many chloroplast-bearing plants and algae lost their photosynthetic activity during evolution but retained their chloroplasts for other functions. A group of dinoflagellate algae apparently lost one half of their photosynthetic machinery but retained... Read More about Evolution: The plasticity of plastids.

Evolution: The great photosynthesis heist (2023)
Journal Article

Many eukaryotes acquired chloroplasts by endosymbiotic acquisition of photosynthetic bacteria or already-domesticated chloroplasts from other eukaryotes. However, the ciliate Mesodinium rubrum acquires the nucleus of a photosynthetic eukaryote, as we... Read More about Evolution: The great photosynthesis heist.

25 years of Protist: A thank you to Editor-in-Chief Michael Melkonian (2023)
Journal Article

Establishment of a novel set of vectors for transformation of the dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae (2022)
Working Paper

Peridinin-containing dinoflagellate algae have a chloroplast genome formed from plasmid-like minicircles. This fragmented genome has allowed us to develop a genetic modification methodology involving the use of biolistics to introduce artificial mini... Read More about Establishment of a novel set of vectors for transformation of the dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae.

In silico identification of Theileria parva surface proteins (2022)
Journal Article

East Coast Fever is a devastating African cattle disease caused by the apicomplexan parasite, Theileria parva. Little is known about the cell surface, and few proteins have been identified. Here, we take an in silico approach to identify novel cell s... Read More about In silico identification of Theileria parva surface proteins.

Tackling protozoan parasites of cattle in sub-Saharan Africa (2021)
Journal Article

Cattle are an incredibly valuable asset to farmers throughout the world (Fig 1). They provide power, transport, fertiliser, fuel, and nutrition. In some areas, cattle guarantee a family’s food and economic security and act as important indicators of... Read More about Tackling protozoan parasites of cattle in sub-Saharan Africa.

The Evolution of the Cytochrome c6 Family of Photosynthetic Electron Transfer Proteins (2021)
Journal Article

During photosynthesis, electrons are transferred between the cytochrome b6f complex and photosystem I. This is carried out by the protein plastocyanin in plant chloroplasts, or by either plastocyanin or cytochrome c6 in many cyanobacteria and eukaryo... Read More about The Evolution of the Cytochrome c6 Family of Photosynthetic Electron Transfer Proteins.

Genetic tool development in marine protists: emerging model organisms for experimental cell biology (2020)
Journal Article

Diverse microbial ecosystems underpin life in the sea. Among these microbes are many unicellular eukaryotes that span the diversity of the eukaryotic tree of life. However, genetic tractability has been limited to a few species, which do not represen... Read More about Genetic tool development in marine protists: emerging model organisms for experimental cell biology.

An essential pentatricopeptide repeat protein in the apicomplexan remnant chloroplast (2019)
Journal Article

The malaria parasite Plasmodium and other apicomplexans such as Toxoplasma evolved from photosynthetic organisms and contain an essential, remnant plastid termed the apicoplast. Transcription of the apicoplast genome is polycistronic with extensive R... Read More about An essential pentatricopeptide repeat protein in the apicomplexan remnant chloroplast.

Genetic transformation of the dinoflagellate chloroplast (2019)
Journal Article

Coral reefs are some of the most important and ecologically diverse marine environments. At the base of the reef ecosystem are dinoflagellate algae, which live symbiotically within coral cells. Efforts to understand the relationship between alga and... Read More about Genetic transformation of the dinoflagellate chloroplast.

Integrated Genomic and Transcriptomic Analysis of the Peridinin Dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae Plastid (2019)
Journal Article

The plastid genomes of peridinin-containing dinoflagellates are highly unusual, possessing very few genes, which are located on small chromosomal elements termed "minicircles". These minicircles may contain genes, or no recognisable coding informatio... Read More about Integrated Genomic and Transcriptomic Analysis of the Peridinin Dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae Plastid.

Author response: Genetic transformation of the dinoflagellate chloroplast (2019)
Other

Transcription of the apicoplast genome (2016)
Journal Article

Many members of the Apicomplexa contain a remnant chloroplast, known as an apicoplast. The apicoplast encodes numerous genes, and loss of the organelle is lethal. Here, we present a summary of what is known about apicoplast transcription. Unlike plan... Read More about Transcription of the apicoplast genome.

Transcripts in the Plasmodium Apicoplast Undergo Cleavage at tRNAs and Editing, and Include Antisense Sequences (2016)
Journal Article

The apicoplast, an organelle found in Plasmodium and many other parasitic apicomplexan species, is a remnant chloroplast that is no longer able to carry out photosynthesis. Very little is known about primary transcripts and RNA processing in the Plas... Read More about Transcripts in the Plasmodium Apicoplast Undergo Cleavage at tRNAs and Editing, and Include Antisense Sequences.

Identification of Sequences Encoding Symbiodinium minutum Mitochondrial Proteins (2016)
Journal Article

The dinoflagellates are an extremely diverse group of algae closely related to the Apicomplexa and the ciliates. Much work has previously been undertaken to determine the presence of various biochemical pathways within dinoflagellate mitochondria. Ho... Read More about Identification of Sequences Encoding Symbiodinium minutum Mitochondrial Proteins.

Viewing Animal Models for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex in the Light of Evolution (2014)
Book Chapter

Tuberous sclerosis complex (TSC) is a multisystem disorder usually caused by a mutation in either the TSC1 or TSC2 genes. Approximately 50 % of individuals with TSC develop an autism spectrum disorder. Between 1 and 4 % of autism is attributable to t... Read More about Viewing Animal Models for Tuberous Sclerosis Complex in the Light of Evolution.

Evolution of Chloroplast Transcript Processing in Plasmodium and Its Chromerid Algal Relatives (2014)
Journal Article

Chloroplasts contain their own genomes, containing two broad functional types of gene: genes encoding proteins directly involved in photosynthesis, and genes with a non-photosynthesis function, such as cofactor biosynthesis, assembly of protein compl... Read More about Evolution of Chloroplast Transcript Processing in Plasmodium and Its Chromerid Algal Relatives.