Content Tagged "Chlamydomonas"

July 9, 2010

Volvox genome belies “Small is Simple” Axiom

In the July 9, 2010 issue of Science, researchers led by the DOE JGI and the Salk Institute report on the 138 million-base genome of the multicellular alga Volvox carteri. The work complements the genome of the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which was sequenced by the DOE JGI in 2007 and is used by researchers… [Read More]

April 21, 2010

Volvox algae and sex evolution on Newswise

“We found that the Volvox mating locus is about five times bigger than that of Chlamydomonas,” says postdoctoral researcher and co-first author Patrick Ferris, Ph.D. “We wanted to understand the evolutionary basis of this. How did it happen? And where did these new genes come from?” To trace the origin of the added genes, the… [Read More]

April 21, 2010

Volvox algae and sex evolution on ScienceDaily

Although the genomes of Chlamydomonas and Volvox are similar in most ways, there is one glaring exception that provided the Salk researchers with an entrée into the origin of male and female sexes-the so-called mating locus that functions in much the same way as human X and Y chromosomes to determine gender. When Umen and… [Read More]

April 21, 2010

Volvox algae and sex evolution on redOrbit

A multicellular green alga, Volvox carteri, may have finally unlocked the secrets behind the evolution of different sexes. A team led by researchers at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has shown that the genetic region that determines sex in Volvox has changed dramatically relative to that of the closely related unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii…. [Read More]