Bloom-forming marine phytoplankton are major contributors to primary production and key regulators of local biogeochemistry. Here, the team proposes a genome sequencing and assembly project that will facilitate (1) phylogenomic comparisons of photo- and heterotrophic Mesodinium species, (2) accurate attribution of metabolic pathways to host versus prey, and (3) identification of horizontal gene exchange.
Proposer: Matthew Johnson, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute