Genus Synedra is widerspread in terrestial water reservoirs. Synedra acus subsp. radians (Kütz.) Skabitsch. is a member of araphid pennate diatoms (class Fragilariophyceae) and is a part of complex of dominating plankton species in Lake Baikal. The peaks of increased abundance of S. acus subsp. radians in geological record of pliocene and pleustocene recovered by analysis of Baikal sediments correlate with the periods of climate warming.

Morphogenesis of S. acus subsp. radians is studied in details, starting from early stages of valves formation. Thorough description of the cell ultrastructure by SEM and TEM is also performed. Unlike other plankton diatoms from Lake Baikal, cells of S. acus subsp. radians can be cultured well in laboratory environment.

Axenic strain G9 of S. acus subsp. radians was established from phytoplankton specimen sampled in Listvennichny bay of Lake Baikal. Total DNA of this strain was analyzed using 454/Roche GS FLX and Illumina MiSeq NGS instruments. S. acus subsp. radians nuclear genome assembly size is 98 Mbp, with scaffolds N₅₀=100.8 kbp and mean coverage of 33. Search for protein-coding genes using Maker2 program revealed 27 337 gene models, including 11 184 models considered to be predicted genes similar to ones from other diatoms. GO terms were mapped to 10 207 S. acus subsp. radians gene models using Blast2GO. The results of sequencing and annotation of nuclear genome of S. acus subsp. radians are presented at this site.