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The transcriptome and proteome of the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana reveal a diverse phosphorus stress response.

ABSTRACT: Phosphorus (P) is a critical driver of phytoplankton growth and ecosystem function in the ocean. Diatoms are an abundant class of marine phytoplankton that are responsible for significant amounts of primary production. With the control they exert on the oceanic carbon cycle, there have been a number of studies focused on how diatoms respond to limiting macro and micronutrients such as iron and nitrogen. However, diatom physiological responses to P deficiency are poorly understood. Here, we couple deep sequencing of transcript tags and quantitative proteomics to analyze the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana grown under P-replete and P-deficient conditions. A total of 318 transcripts were differentially regulated with a false discovery rate of <0.05, and a total of 136 proteins were differentially abundant (p<0.05). Significant changes in the abundance of transcripts and proteins were observed and coordinated for multiple biochemical pathways, including glycolysis and translation. Patterns in transcript and protein abundance were also linked to physiological changes in cellular P distributions, and enzyme activities. These data demonstrate that diatom P deficiency results in changes in cellular P allocation through polyphosphate production, increased P transport, a switch to utilization of dissolved organic P through increased production of metalloenzymes, and a remodeling of the cell surface through production of sulfolipids. Together, these findings reveal that T. pseudonana has evolved a sophisticated response to P deficiency involving multiple biochemical strategies that are likely critical to its ability to respond to variations in environmental P availability.

SUBMITTER: Dyhrman ST

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3315573 | biostudies-literature | 2012

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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The transcriptome and proteome of the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana reveal a diverse phosphorus stress response.

Dyhrman Sonya T ST Jenkins Bethany D BD Rynearson Tatiana A TA Saito Mak A MA Mercier Melissa L ML Alexander Harriet H Whitney Leann P LP Drzewianowski Andrea A Bulygin Vladimir V VV Bertrand Erin M EM Wu Zhijin Z Benitez-Nelson Claudia C Heithoff Abigail A

PloS one 20120329 3

Phosphorus (P) is a critical driver of phytoplankton growth and ecosystem function in the ocean. Diatoms are an abundant class of marine phytoplankton that are responsible for significant amounts of primary production. With the control they exert on the oceanic carbon cycle, there have been a number of studies focused on how diatoms respond to limiting macro and micronutrients such as iron and nitrogen. However, diatom physiological responses to P deficiency are poorly understood. Here, we coupl ...[more]

PMID: 22479440

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Project description:Phosphorus (P) is a critical driver of phytoplankton growth and ecosystem structure and function in the ocean. Diatoms are an abundant and widespread functional group of phytoplankton that are responsible for significant amounts of primary production in the ocean, however there has not been a comprehensive study of diatom physiological responses to P deficiency. Here, we coupled deep sequencing of transcript tags and quantitative proteomic analysis from the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana grown under P-replete and P-deficient conditions. The reads (tags) were mapped to the T. pseudonana genome sequence, confirming expression of 91% of the modeled gene set. A total of 318 genes were differentially regulated with a false discovery rate of p<0.05. A total of 1264 proteins were detected, and of those 136 were differentially expressed with a false discovery rate of p<0.05. Significant changes in the abundance of transcripts and proteins were observed and these changes were coordinated for glycolysis, translation, and multiple biochemical responses to P deficiency. These data demonstrate that diatom P deficiency results in changes in cellular P allocation through polyphosphate production, increased P transport, a switch to utilization of dissolved organic P (DOP) through increased production of alkaline phosphatase metalloenzymes and a diesterase, and a remodeling of the cell surface through production of sulfolipids. Together, these findings reveal that T. pseudonana has evolved a sophisticated response to P deficiency involving multiple biochemical strategies that are likely critical to its ability to rapidly respond to variations in environmental P availability. T. pseudonana (Strain 1335 from the Provosoli-Guillard National Center for the Culture of Marine Phytoplankton (CCMP)) was grown in a modified f/2 medium made from Sargasso Sea water. Macronutrients and vitamin B12, biotin, and thiamine solutions were treated with prepared Chelex-100 resin to remove trace metal contaminants followed by trace-metal clean syringe sterilization to yield final nutrient concentrations of 882 μM NaNO3 and 106 μM Na2SiO3, and vitamin concentrations of 75 pM, 400 pM, and 60 nM, respectively. The Fe concentration was also modified from f/2 to 400 nM. All conditions were run in triplicate at 14 ºC, in constant light (120 µmol photons m-2 s-1). Cells were grown with f/2 phosphorus concentrations (P-replete; 36 µM PO4) and with low phosphorus concentrations (P-deficient; 0.4 µM PO4). Growth was monitored daily with cell counts. Duplicate P-replete treatments were pooled and harvested in mid log phase, and triplicate P-deficient treatments were pooled, and also quickly harvested onto 2 µm filters at the onset of P depletion. All RNA samples were snap frozen in liquid nitrogen. Replicate P-deficient cultures were refed to 36 µM phosphate at the onset of P depletion, and subsequently resumed growth. Additional growth studies were performed as described above substituting glycerolphosphate and adenosine monophosphate at 36 µM, for the phosphate in the medium.

Project description:BACKGROUND:Silicon plays important biological roles, but the mechanisms of cellular responses to silicon are poorly understood. We report the first analysis of cell cycle arrest and recovery from silicon starvation in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana using whole genome microarrays. RESULTS:Three known responses to silicon were examined, 1) silicified cell wall synthesis, 2) recovery from silicon starvation, and 3) co-regulation with silicon transporter (SIT) genes. In terms of diatom cell wall formation, thus far only cell surface proteins and proteins tightly associated with silica have been characterized. Our analysis has identified new genes potentially involved in silica formation, and other genes potentially involved in signaling, trafficking, protein degradation, glycosylation and transport, which provides a larger-scale picture of the processes involved. During silicon starvation, an overrepresentation of transcription and translation related genes were up-regulated, indicating that T. pseudonana is poised to rapidly recover from silicon starvation and resume cell cycle progression upon silicon replenishment. This is in contrast to other types of limitation, and provides the first molecular data explaining the well-established environmental response of diatoms to grow as blooms and to out-compete other classes of microalgae for growth. Comparison of our data with a previous diatom cell cycle analysis indicates that assignment of the cell cycle specific stage of particular cyclins and cyclin dependent kinases should be re-evaluated. Finally, genes co-varying in expression with the SITs enabled identification of a new class of diatom-specific proteins containing a unique domain, and a putative silicon efflux protein. CONCLUSIONS:Analysis of the T. pseudonana microarray data has provided a wealth of new genes to investigate previously uncharacterized cellular phenomenon related to silicon metabolism, silicon's interaction with cellular components, and environmental responses to silicon.

Project description:Phytoplankton replace phosphorus-containing lipids (P-lipids) with non-P analogues, boosting growth in P-limited oceans. In the model diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, the substitution dynamics of lipid headgroups are well described, but those of the individual lipids, differing in fatty acid composition, are unknown. Moreover, the behavior of lipids outside the common headgroup classes and the relationship between lipid substitution and cellular particulate organic P (POP) have yet to be reported. We investigated these through the mass spectrometric lipidomics of P-replete (P+) and P-depleted (P-) T. pseudonana cultures. Nonlipidic POP was depleted rapidly by the initiation of P stress, followed by the cessation of P-lipid biosynthesis and per-cell reductions in the P-lipid levels of successive generations. Minor P-lipid degradative breakdown was observed, releasing P for other processes, but most P-lipids remained intact. This may confer an advantage on efficient heterotrophic lipid consumers in P-limited oceans. Glycerophosphatidylcholine (PC), the predominant P-lipid, was similar in composition to its betaine substitute lipid. During substitution, PC was less abundant per cell and was more highly unsaturated in composition. This may reflect underlying biosynthetic processes or the regulation of membrane biophysical properties subject to lipid substitution. Finally, levels of several diglycosylceramide lipids increased as much as 10-fold under P stress. These represent novel substitute lipids and potential biomarkers for the study of P limitation in situ, contributing to growing evidence highlighting the importance of sphingolipids in phycology. These findings contribute much to our understanding of P-lipid substitution, a powerful and widespread adaptation to P limitation in the oligotrophic ocean.IMPORTANCE Unicellular organisms replace phosphorus (P)-containing membrane lipids with non-P substitutes when P is scarce, allowing greater growth of populations. Previous research with the model diatom species Thalassiosira pseudonana grouped lipids by polar headgroups in their chemical structures. The significance of the research reported here is threefold. (i) We described the individual lipids within the headgroups during P-lipid substitution, revealing the relationships between lipid headgroups and hinting at the underlying biochemical processes. (ii) We measured total cellular P, placing P-lipid substitution in the context of the broader response to P stress and yielding insight into the implications of substitution in the marine environment. (iii) We identified lipids previously unknown in this system, revealing a new type of non-P substitute lipid, which is potentially useful as a biomarker for the investigation of P limitation in the ocean.

Dataset Information

The transcriptome and proteome of the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana reveal a diverse phosphorus stress response.

Publications

The transcriptome and proteome of the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana reveal a diverse phosphorus stress response.

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