Abstract
Cryptomonads are unicellular algae with chloroplasts surrounded by four membranes. Between the inner and the outer pairs of membranes is a narrow plasmatic compartment which contains a nucleus-like organelle called the nucleomorph. Using pulsed field gel electrophoresis it is shown that the nucleomorph of the cryptomonad Pyrenomonas salina contains three linear chromosomes of 195 kb, 225 kb and 240 kb all of which encode rRNAs. Thus, this vestigial nucleus has a haploid genome size of 660 kb, harboring the smallest eukaryotic genome known so far. From the cell nucleus of P. salina at least 20 chromosomes ranging from 230 kb to 3.000 kb were fractionated. Here, the rDNA was detected on a single chromosome of about 2.500 kb.