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The cell wall polysaccharides of a photosynthetic relative of apicomplexans, Chromera velia

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posted on 2022-01-17, 04:29 authored by G Tortorelli, F Pettolino, DH Lai, A Tomčala, Tony BacicTony Bacic, M Oborník, J Lukeš, GI McFadden
Chromerids are a group of alveolates, found in corals, that show peculiar morphological and genomic features. These organisms are evolutionary placed in-between symbiotic dinoflagellates and parasitic apicomplexans. There are two known species of chromerids: Chromera velia and Vitrella brassicaformis. Here, the biochemical composition of the C. velia cell wall was analyzed. Several polysaccharides adorn this structure, with glucose being the most abundant monosaccharide (approx. 80%) and predominantly 4-linked (approx. 60%), suggesting that the chromerids cell wall is mostly cellulosic. The presence of cellulose was cytochemically confirmed with calcofluor white staining of the algal cell. The remaining wall polysaccharides, assuming structures are similar to those of higher plants, are indicative of a mixture of galactans, xyloglucans, heteroxylans, and heteromannans. The present work provides, for the first time, insights into the outermost layers of the photosynthetic alveolate C. velia.

Funding

This work was supported by the ERDF/ESF (No. CZ.02.1.01/0.0/0.0/16_019/0000759 to JL and MO) and the Czech Science Foundation (21-03224S to MO). GMcF is grateful for Australian Research Council support (DP210100639).

History

Publication Date

2021-12-01

Journal

Journal of Phycology

Volume

57

Issue

6

Pagination

(p. 1805-1809)

Publisher

Wiley

ISSN

0022-3646

Rights Statement

© 2021 The Authors. Journal of Phycology published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of Phycological Society of America This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-commercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. DOI: 10.1111/jpy.13211

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