Bacteria-ascidian symbiosis P3-Solomon. sea squirt metagenome

Freshly collected samples from the ascidian Lissoclinum patella were squeezed to release bacterial cells, predominantly belonging to the cyanobacterial symbiont Prochloron didemni and DNA was immediately processed. This study is the first large-scale, comparative metagenomic analysis of a marine animal group and explains the unusual primary and secondary metabolism of ascidians, which are important sources of pharmaceuticals and pharmaceutical lead compounds.