A genomic investigation¹ by University of British Columbia researchers has revealed that a lethal² parasite³ infecting a wide range of insects actually originated from pond scum（绿藻类层）, but has completely shed its green past on its evolutionary⁴ journey. A team led by UBC Botany Prof. Patrick Keeling sequenced the genome of Helicosporidium -- an intracellular parasite that can kill juvenile⁵ blackflies, caterpillars⁶（毛毛虫）, beetles⁷ and mosquitoes -- and found it evolved from algae⁸ like another notorious pathogen: malaria⁹（疟疾）.

 

Keeling and colleagues had previously¹⁰ reported that malaria shared a common evolutionary lineage with the algae responsible for toxic¹¹ red tides. Their latest study, published in the online journal PLOS Genetics, shows that Helicosporidium evolved from green alga but, unlike malaria, preserved virtually all its genes¹² except those required for photosynthesis¹³.

 

"Both malaria and Helicosporidium started out as alga and ended up as intracellular parasites¹⁴ preying¹⁵ on animals, but they have done it in very different ways," says Keeling, director of the Centre for Microbial Diversity and Evolution at UBC and a Senior Fellow of Canadian Institute for Advanced Research.

 

"Malaria drastically reduced its genome and became very dependent on its host for nutrients¹⁶. Helicosporidium, on the other hand, lost almost nothing except those genes required for photosynthesis（光合作用）, which it no longer needs as a parasite.

 

"It's as if photosynthesis has been surgically¹⁷ removed from its genome."

 

The discovery, done in collaboration¹⁸ with scientists at the Universities of Rhode Island and Florida, will allow researchers to compare how parasites evolve at the molecular¹⁹ level in these two distantly related lineages. It also provides the first insights into their origins, development as well as methods of infection, which are key to controlling the population of pest-insect hosts.

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