Those amazing dinoflagellate chromosomes

• Published in: Cell research Vol. 13; no. 4; pp. 215 - 217
• Main Author: Rizzo, Peter J
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Nature Publishing Group 01-08-2003; Department of Biology, Texas A & M University, College Station, TX 77843,USA
• Subjects: Algae; Animals; Aquatic habitats; Cell Nucleus - metabolism; Chromosomes; Dinoflagellida - genetics; Dinoflagellida - ultrastructure; Food webs; Health risks; Histones - metabolism; Red tides; 染色体; 组织蛋白; 腰鞭毛虫; histone-like proteins; histones; dinoflagellates; chromosomes
• ISSN: 1001-0602; 1748-7838
• DOI: 10.1038/sj.cr.7290166

Dinoflagellates are a very large and diverse group of eukaryotic algae that play a major role in aquaticfood webs of both fresh water and marine habitats. Moreover, the toxic members of this group posea health threat in the form of red tides. Finally, dinoflagellates are of great evolutionary importance,because of their taxonomic position, and their unusual chromosome structure and composition. While the cytoplasm of dinoflagellates is typically eukaryotic, the nucleus is unique when compared to the nucleusof other eukaryotes. More specifically, while the chromosomes of all other eukaryotes contain histones,dinoflagellate chromosomes lack histones completely. There are no known exceptions to this observation: all dinoflagellates lack histones, and all other eukaryotes contain histones. Nevertheless, dinoflagellates remain a relatively unstudied group of eukaryotes.