EMBO Comparative genomics of eukaryotic microbes: Dissecting sources of evolutionary diversity

This EMBO Workshop will be focused on comparative genomics of eukaryotic microorganisms.

Unicellular eukaryotes comprise the overwhelming majority of eukaryotic cellular and genomic diversity, pervading all branches of the eukaryotic tree of life. Recent sequencing efforts have significantly increased the number of unicellular eukaryotes for which genomic/cellular/proteomic data are available. Metagenomics, transcriptomics,single-cell genomics, and other approaches are being applied to unravel the ecology, physiology, diversity and evolution of microbial eukaryotes and are shedding light on fundamental questions such as the origin of the eukaryotic cell, endosymbiosis, the origin of multicellularity and the evolution of major cellular systems in eukaryotes.

Although there are conferences devoted to genomics of prokaryotes and that of plants and animals, this EMBO Workshop will be the only forum bringing together this diverse community with a range of expertise and which concentrates on microbial eukaryotes.

There is a need, particularly in organisms without large communities, to have a forum where approaches, new methodologies and datasets can be shared to the advancement of this field.