UC San Diego

Galdieria sulphuraria is a thermo-acidophilic unicellular red alga that is capable of living in the presence of toxic heavy metals. We bioinformatically analyzed the genome of G. sulphuraria in order to identify and classify transport proteins related to its extensive metabolic and extremophilic capabilities. These transport proteins were compared with those of the mesophilic and multicellular red alga Chondrus crispus Stackhouse, or Irish moss, in order characterize the extent of their divergence. While G. sulphuraria has a vast array of transporters capable of importing a variety of carbon sources, C. crispus has relatively few. Additionally, the genome of G. sulphuraria encodes many heavy metal ion transporters lacking in the genome of C. crispus although C. crispus has many monovalent ion transporters that G. sulphuraria lacks. The results presented in this report provide information about transport systems relevant to furthering the studies of Galdieria sulphuraria, Chondrus crispus, and other red algae with applications relevant to bioremediation