Intra-Species Genetic Diversity of the Centric Diatom Thalassiosira Pseudonana: Genome-Wide Comparisons via Massively Parallel Short-Read DNA Sequencing

An Applied Biosystems SOLiD Analyzer was used to re-sequence the genome of Thalassiosira pseudonana (CCMP1335), yielding over 6 gigabases covering the original reference genome to a depth exceeding 150x. Six additional strains of T. pseudonana from different ocean basins (including a recently isolated Mediterranean strain) were also sequenced to a similar depth of coverage. The genomes are currently be analyzed to identify gene arrangement and content, SNP distributions, distributions and frequency of non-synonymous to synonymous mutations across the seven genomes, and phylogenetic relatedness.