Why Sequence a Diatom?
Diatoms are eukaryotic, photosynthetic microorganisms found throughout marine and freshwater ecosystems. They are responsible for as much as 20% of global production of new biomass by photosynthesis. A defining feature of diatoms is their ornately patterned silicified cell wall, or frustule, which displays such species-specific fine-scale nanostructures that diatoms have long been used to test the resolution of optical microscopes. The marine-centric diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana was chosen as the first eukaryotic marine phytoplankton (microscopic aquatic plant) for whole-genome sequencing for several reasons: this species has already served as a model for diatom physiology studies, the genus Thalassiosira is cosmopolitan throughout the world’s oceans, and the genome is relatively small at 34 million base pairs. The complete T. pseudonana genome sequence will provide a foundation for interpreting the ecological success of these organisms.
