Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences, Deakin University, Victoria 3125, Australia. prgilson@deakin.edu.au
The DNA sequence of one of the smallest eukaryotic genomes has recently been finished - that of the reduced nucleus, or nucleomorph, of an algal endosymbiont that resides within a cryptomonad host cell. Its sequence promises insights into chloroplast acquisition, the constraints on genome size and the basic workings of eukaryotic cells.