Emiliania huxleyi CCMP1516 Genome sequencing and assembly. Emiliania huxleyi CCMP1516

The haptophyte Emiliania huxleyi is the dominant coccolithophorid forming mesoscale blooms across diverse regimes in the contemporary oceans, often in regions inhospitable to other phytoplankton. Through its ability to both calcify and photosynthetically fix carbon, this group of small calcite-covered microalgae exerts profound control over global climate by mediating the exchange of CO2 between the atmosphere and the ocean and has done so for hundreds of thousands of years. This first sequenced haptophyte genome fills the gap in the eukaryotic tree of life. Genome sequence analysis will provide insights into key steps in the biomineralization of calcite, light harvesting, acquiring nutrients and metabolism.