Dataset Information

Adaptation prevents the extinction of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under toxic beryllium.

ABSTRACT: The current biodiversity crisis represents a historic challenge for natural communities: the environmental rate of change exceeds the population's adaptation capability. Integrating both ecological and evolutionary responses is necessary to make reliable predictions regarding the loss of biodiversity. The race against extinction from an eco-evolutionary perspective is gaining importance in ecological risk assessment. Here, we performed a classical study of population dynamics-a fluctuation analysis-and evaluated the results from an adaption perspective. Fluctuation analysis, widely used with microorganisms, is an effective empirical procedure to study adaptation under strong selective pressure because it incorporates the factors that influence demographic, genetic and environmental changes. The adaptation of phytoplankton to beryllium (Be) is of interest because human activities are increasing the concentration of Be in freshwater reserves; therefore, predicting the effects of human-induced pollutants is necessary for proper risk assessment. The fluctuation analysis was performed with phytoplankton, specifically, the freshwater microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, under acute Be exposure. High doses of Be led to massive microalgae death; however, by conducting a fluctuation analysis experiment, we found that C. reinhardtii was able to adapt to 33 mg/l of Be due to pre-existing genetic variability. The rescuing adapting genotype presented a mutation rate of 9.61 × 10(-6) and a frequency of 10.42 resistant cells per million wild-type cells. The genetic adaptation pathway that was experimentally obtained agreed with the theoretical models of evolutionary rescue (ER). Furthermore, the rescuing genotype presented phenotypic and physiologic differences from the wild-type genotype, was 25% smaller than the Be-resistant genotype and presented a lower fitness and quantum yield performance. The abrupt distinctions between the wild-type and the Be-resistant genotype suggest a pleiotropic effect mediated by an advantageous mutation; however, no sequencing confirmation was performed.

SUBMITTER: Baselga-Cervera B

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4806628 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

ACCESS DATA

Publications

Adaptation prevents the extinction of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under toxic beryllium.

Baselga-Cervera Beatriz B Costas Eduardo E Bustillo-Avendaño Estéfano E García-Balboa Camino C

PeerJ 20160321

The current biodiversity crisis represents a historic challenge for natural communities: the environmental rate of change exceeds the population's adaptation capability. Integrating both ecological and evolutionary responses is necessary to make reliable predictions regarding the loss of biodiversity. The race against extinction from an eco-evolutionary perspective is gaining importance in ecological risk assessment. Here, we performed a classical study of population dynamics-a fluctuation analy ...[more]

PMID: 27019784

Similar Datasets

Project description:Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is one of the most important model organisms nowadays phylogenetically situated between higher plants and animals (Merchant et al. 2007). Stress adaptation of this unicellular model algae is in the focus because of its relevance to biomass and biofuel production. Here, we have studied cold stress adaptation of C. reinhardtii hitherto not described for this algae whereas intensively studied in higher plants. Toward this goal, high throughput mass spectrometry was employed to integrate proteome, metabolome, physiological and cell-morphological changes during a time-course from 0 to 120 h. These data were complemented with RT-qPCR for target genes involved in central metabolism, signaling, and lipid biosynthesis. Using this approach dynamics in central metabolism were linked to cold-stress dependent sugar and autophagy pathways as well as novel genes in C. reinhardtii such as CKIN1, CKIN2 and a hitherto functionally not annotated protein named CKIN3. Cold stress affected extensively the physiology and the organization of the cell. Gluconeogenesis and starch biosynthesis pathways are activated leading to a pronounced starch and sugar accumulation. Quantitative lipid profiles indicate a sharp decrease in the lipophilic fraction and an increase in polyunsaturated fatty acids suggesting this as a mechanism of maintaining membrane fluidity. The proteome is completely remodeled during cold stress: specific candidates of the ribosome and the spliceosome indicate altered biosynthesis and degradation of proteins important for adaptation to low temperatures. Specific proteasome degradation may be mediated by the observed cold-specific changes in the ubiquitinylation system. Sparse partial least squares regression analysis was applied for protein correlation network analysis using proteins as predictors and Fv/Fm, FW, total lipids, and starch as responses. We applied also Granger causality analysis and revealed correlations between proteins and metabolites otherwise not detectable. Twenty percent of the proteins responsive to cold are uncharacterized proteins. This presents a considerable resource for new discoveries in cold stress biology in alga and plants.

Dataset Information

Adaptation prevents the extinction of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under toxic beryllium.

Publications

Adaptation prevents the extinction of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under toxic beryllium.

Similar Datasets

OmicsDI is part of the ELIXIR infrastructure

Tweets