UC San Diego

Cyanidioschyzon merolae is a thermo-acidophilic unicellular red alga that can be found living in volcanic environments. We bioinformatically analyzed the genome of C. merolae in order to identify and classify transport proteins related to its metabolic and extremophilic capabilities. These transport proteins were then compared with those of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to characterize the extent of their divergence. As a more primitive alga, C. merolae has a smaller genome than C. reinhardtii and thus also exhibits fewer transport proteins. However, both algae contain large numbers of cation-specific transport systems and prioritize secondary carrier transport proteins. The results presented in this thesis provide information about transport systems which will be relevant to furthering the studies of Cyanidioschyzon merolae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and potentially other algae as well