The analysis of DNA sequences from tiny green algae have provided new insights into the mystery of how new species of plankton evolve-and further highlights their critical role in managing the global cycling of carbon. These findings, by a group led by the DOE Joint Genome Institute (DOE JGI); the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego; and the Pierre & Marie Curie University, were published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).