Paraphysomonas
Chrysophytes are found in marine and freshwater ecosystems and contain microbial eukaryotes with diverse forms of nutrition. Many of them are predatory and feed on other microbes via the process of phagocytosis, while others are photosynthetic and contribute to primary production in lakes and oceans. Some species can even combine both forms of nutrition in a so-called mixotrophic lifestyle, thus being able to both photosynthesize and feed on other microbes. This diversity of lifestyles can provide insight into the evolution of different nutritional strategies, and genomic resources will facilitate understanding of the physiological processes that underlie the key transformations in the marine carbon cycle performed by microbial eukaryotes.
Paraphysomonas imperforata is a heterotrophic predatory chrysophyte that has been extensively studied as a model for marine bacterivorous flagellates. Its genome will therefore provide insight into the cellular processes underlying its predatory lifestyle.
