Searching for KEGG-Annotated Phagocytosis-Related Genes in Marine Microbial Eukaryotes

Identifier:  TFM:2517

Handle: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11797/TFM2517

Authors:  Marimon Fernandez, Guillem

Abstract:
Phagocytosis is a key ecological function in marine microbial eukaryotes, but its genetic basis in uncultured protists remains poorly understood. We curated 194 KEGG Orthologs (KOs) from phagosome and lysosome pathways and assessed their presence in reference genomes from EukProt and Single-cell Amplified Genomes (SAGs). Comparing eggNOG-mapper and HMMER, we found HMMER to be more precise, especially for incomplete genomes. Many phagocytosis-related genes annotated in animals were also detected in protists. Our results highlight the utility of KEGG-based annotations and SAGs for exploring functional and evolutionary traits in uncultured marine protists.