TY - JOUR
T1 - A genome-wide algal mutant library and functional screen identifies genes required for eukaryotic photosynthesis
AU - Li, Xiaobo
AU - Patena, Weronika
AU - Fauser, Friedrich
AU - Jinkerson, Robert E.
AU - Saroussi, Shai
AU - Meyer, Moritz T.
AU - Ivanova, Nina
AU - Robertson, Jacob M.
AU - Yue, Rebecca
AU - Zhang, Ru
AU - Vilarrasa-Blasi, Josep
AU - Wittkopp, Tyler M.
AU - Ramundo, Silvia
AU - Blum, Sean R.
AU - Goh, Audrey
AU - Laudon, Matthew
AU - Srikumar, Tharan
AU - Lefebvre, Paul A.
AU - Grossman, Arthur R.
AU - Jonikas, Martin C.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature America, Inc.
PY - 2019/4/1
Y1 - 2019/4/1
N2 - Photosynthetic organisms provide food and energy for nearly all life on Earth, yet half of their protein-coding genes remain uncharacterized1,2. Characterization of these genes could be greatly accelerated by new genetic resources for unicellular organisms. Here we generated a genome-wide, indexed library of mapped insertion mutants for the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The 62,389 mutants in the library, covering 83% of nuclear protein-coding genes, are available to the community. Each mutant contains unique DNA barcodes, allowing the collection to be screened as a pool. We performed a genome-wide survey of genes required for photosynthesis, which identified 303 candidate genes. Characterization of one of these genes, the conserved predicted phosphatase-encoding gene CPL3, showed that it is important for accumulation of multiple photosynthetic protein complexes. Notably, 21 of the 43 higher-confidence genes are novel, opening new opportunities for advances in understanding of this biogeochemically fundamental process. This library will accelerate the characterization of thousands of genes in algae, plants, and animals.
AB - Photosynthetic organisms provide food and energy for nearly all life on Earth, yet half of their protein-coding genes remain uncharacterized1,2. Characterization of these genes could be greatly accelerated by new genetic resources for unicellular organisms. Here we generated a genome-wide, indexed library of mapped insertion mutants for the unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The 62,389 mutants in the library, covering 83% of nuclear protein-coding genes, are available to the community. Each mutant contains unique DNA barcodes, allowing the collection to be screened as a pool. We performed a genome-wide survey of genes required for photosynthesis, which identified 303 candidate genes. Characterization of one of these genes, the conserved predicted phosphatase-encoding gene CPL3, showed that it is important for accumulation of multiple photosynthetic protein complexes. Notably, 21 of the 43 higher-confidence genes are novel, opening new opportunities for advances in understanding of this biogeochemically fundamental process. This library will accelerate the characterization of thousands of genes in algae, plants, and animals.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063903024&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41588-019-0370-6
DO - 10.1038/s41588-019-0370-6
M3 - Letter
C2 - 30886426
AN - SCOPUS:85063903024
SN - 1061-4036
VL - 51
SP - 627
EP - 635
JO - Nature Genetics
JF - Nature Genetics
IS - 4
ER -