Single-Cell Genomics Reveals Organismal Interactions in Uncultivated Marine Protists

Whole-genome shotgun sequence data from three individual cells isolated from seawater, followed by analysis of ribosomal DNA, indicated that the cells represented three divergent clades of picobiliphytes. In contrast with the recent description of this phylum, we found no evidence of plastid DNA nor of nuclear-encoded plastid-targeted proteins, which suggests that these picobiliphytes are heterotrophs. Genome data from one cell were dominated by...