Ubiquitin fusion proteins in algae: implications for cell biology and the spread of photosynthesis

The process of gene fusion involves the formation of a single chimeric gene from multiple complete or partial gene sequences. Gene fusion is recognized as an important mechanism by which genes and their protein products can evolve new functions. The presence-absence of gene fusions can also be useful characters for inferring evolutionary relationships between organisms. Here we show that the nuclear genomes of two unrelated single-celled algae,...