| description |
The purpose of a Colpodella genome sequence is to provide an 'outgroup' for comparative genomic analyses. Phylogenetic analysis has shown that the Colpodellidae are the natural sister clade to Apicomplexa sensu stricto, including the Gregarines (Kuvardina et al. 2002, Leander et al. 2003). As such, a Colpodella genome sequence will provide a model of the ancestral Apicomplexan to distinguish those derived parts of the parasite genomes (i.e., unique Apicomplexan adaptations) from those which are a legacy of the free-living ancestor. This objective can be resolved into three principal comparative issues: (i) Evolution of parasitism; to understand how the process of becoming parasitic changed the genome of the ancestral Apicomplexan in terms of innovation and loss of genomic repertoire; (ii) Origins of Apicomplexan adaptations; to identify the homologs encoding specialized cellular organelles and multi-copy protein families characteristic of Apicomplexan parasites in the non-parasite, and so better understand the homology between parasites. (iii) Apicomplexan disease; understanding how human and animal Apicomplexan parasites acquired their distinct pathological strategies. The WTSI is undertaking complete genome sequencing of genomic DNA from a single cell of Colpodella sp. ATCC50594 using Illumina technology. We intend to supplement this with whole-cell RNA sequencing, again using single-cell preparation and the Illumina platform. |