Primary and secondary structure of the nuclear small subunit ribosomal RNA of the cryptomonad Pyrenomonas salina as inferred from the gene sequence: evolutionary implications

Abstract

The cryptomonad Pyrenomonas salina presumably has arisen from a symbiotic event involving a flagellated phagotrophic host cell and a photosynthetic eukaryote as the symbiont. Correspondingly, in this unicellular alga there are four different genomes, e.g., the nuclear and the mitochondrial genomes of the host cell as well as the plastid genome and the genome contained in the vestigial nucleus of the endocytobiont (nucleomorph). To analyze the origin of one of the symbiotic partners the small subunit rRNA gene sequence of the host cell nucleus was determined, and a secondary structure model has been constructed. This sequence is compared to those of 40 other eukaryotes. A phylogenetic tree constructed using the neighborliness method revealed a close relationship between the host cell of P. salina and the chlorophytes, whereas the rhodophytes diverge more deeply in the tree.