https://www.jst.go.jp/pr/announce/20230127/pdf/20230127.pdf

https://www.nature.com/articles/s42003-022-04367-9

A team from the University of Tokyo and the Tokyo University of Science has cultured a new type of microalgae from the water in a tank where goldfish and killifish were kept, and identified its genome sequence.

The photosynthetic microalgae has only 7629 genes, the lowest number of genes among all freshwater green algae reported to date. By comparison with 14 microalgal genomes, 1263 essential algal genes were already identified. The new microalgae has the ability to perform high-density and highly synchronized culture and is expected to be useful for basic research in cell biology, evolutionary phylogenetics, and synthetic biology, as well as for applied research in the production of useful substances.