MétaCan
Menu
← Back to cohort
Record W4411995381 · doi:10.1101/2025.07.02.662897

Modern microbialites harbor an undescribed diversity of chromerid algae

2025· preprint· en· W4411995381 on OpenAlexafffund
Anthony M Bonacolta, Patrick J. Keeling

Bibliographic record

VenuebioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2025
Typepreprint
Languageen
FieldEnvironmental Science
TopicMicrobial Community Ecology and Physiology
Canadian institutionsUniversity of British Columbia
FundersAlliance de recherche numérique du CanadaGordon and Betty Moore Foundation
KeywordsAlgaeDiversity (politics)BiologyEcologyGeographyAnthropologySociology

Abstract

fetched live from OpenAlex

Abstract Chromerid algae and the heterotrophic colpodellids together make up the chrompodellids, which are the closest known relatives to apicomplexan parasites [1]. As apicomplexans are prolific parasites of animals, including humans, their adaptation to parasitism from algal ancestors has garnered significant interest, and chromerids were instrumental in elucidating that evolution [2-5]. But the chromerids were also the first new algal group discovered in 100 years [2], and because so much attention has focused on comparisons with apicomplexans, the ecology of chromerid algae has remained surprisingly mysterious. They have predominately been considered to live only in association with corals, initially as intracellular coral symbionts. To test for a wider distribution of chromerids in nature, we have used plastid metagenomic binning combined with re-analysis of 18S rRNA metabarcoding data, which both support an expanded biogeographic range and ecological niche of chromerid algae by showing they are consistent associates of modern microbialites across the globe. Specifically, a broad and undescribed diversity of chromerid lineages is found in marine and also freshwater microbialites. This includes the recovery of a near-complete V. brassicaformis plastid genome and a second incomplete plastid genome from a new chromerid lineage from Highborne Cay thrombolites. This is the first concrete evidence that this under-sampled algal lineage lives outside some association with coral, including freshwater habitats, and sheds new light on the diversity and ecological range of the most recently discovered algal lineage.

Fetched live from OpenAlex and de-inverted. Abstracts are not stored in this database: the inverted indexes are 8.6 GB of the frame’s 9.3 GB of text, and the host has 13 GB free.

How this classification was reachedexpand

Full frame machine prediction

Teacher imitation

Not calibrated prevalence, not ground truth. Human validation pending. The Gemma side is a direct model label for every work in the frame, read from the title-only record. The Codex side is a classifier learned from the 10,348 direct Codex labels and calibrated to design-weighted sample rates; fields without enough sample support carry no Codex call. Candidate is the union of the two sides; consensus is their intersection. These outputs are machine_predicted_unvalidated and are not human labels.

metaresearch head score (Codex)0.000
metaresearch head score (Gemma)0.000
Version: metacan-v3-hybrid-931329e0061cValidation status: machine_predicted_unvalidated
Candidate categoriesnone
Consensus categoriesnone
DomainCandidate signal: none · Consensus signal: none
Study designCandidate signal: Observational · Consensus signal: none
GenreCandidate signal: Empirical · Consensus signal: Empirical
Teacher disagreement score0.002
Threshold uncertainty score0.008

Distilled classifier scores by category (both heads)

CategoryCodexGemma
Metaresearch0.0000.000
Meta-epidemiology (narrow)0.0000.000
Meta-epidemiology (broad)0.0000.000
Bibliometrics0.0010.001
Science and technology studies0.0010.001
Scholarly communication0.0010.000
Open science0.0000.001
Research integrity0.0000.000
Insufficient payload (model declined to judge)0.0020.001

Machine scores (provisional)

The two teacher heads of the student model, read on this work. A score orders the frame for review; it never asserts a category, and the validation status ships verbatim with every row.

Baseline scores from an immature model (maturity gate not passed, 7 training rounds). Scores rank; they never assert a category.

Opus teacher head0.017
GPT teacher head0.215
Teacher spread0.198 · how far apart the two teachers sit on this one work
Validation statusscore_only:v0-immature-baseline · verbatim from the scoring run: score_only means the number may rank works, and no category label ships from it

Classification

machine, unvalidated

Machine predicted; a candidate call from one source (direct Gemma or distilled Codex), not a consensus.

The models applied no category: nothing in the taxonomy fit this work.
Study designObservational
Domainnot available
GenreEmpirical

How this classification was reached, model by model and score by score, is at the end of the page under "How this classification was reached".

Quick stats

Citations0
Published2025
Admission routes2
Has abstractyes

Explore more

Same venuebioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory)→Same topicMicrobial Community Ecology and Physiology→French-language works237,207→