Projects & Grants




Evolution and fate of endosymbiotic organelles in stramenopiles
Project Id18-13458S
Main solverprof. Mgr. Marek Eliáš, Ph.D.
Period1/2018 - 12/2020
ProviderKatedra biologie a ekologie, Standardní projekt GA ČR
Statefinished
AnotationStramenopiles are a large and diverse group of protists including many heterotrophs and a huge algal group, the ochrophytes. This proposal aims at improving the knowledge of evolution and function of mitochondria and plastids of stramenopiles. We will obtain new sequences of mitochondrial and plastid genomes and will perform their comparative and phylogenetic analyses. For selected species we will also sequence and analyse the nuclear genomes and transcriptomes. We will combine the new sequence data with results of experimental characterization of mitochondrial proteomes of a heterotrophic and an algal stramenopile, and will define the differences in mitochondrial biology between stramenopiles with and without a plastid. We will also study the proteome of the ochrophyte plastids with the aim to better document metabolic functions of this organelle and variation in plastid biology among ochrophyte lineages. We will obtain a robust scheme of relationships among main ochrophyte lineages and will test a hypothesis of an origin of the plastid of chromerids from an ochrophyte.