Project description:An experiment was performed to determine the similarities on the RNA level between different conditions where cell division stops in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Many of these conditions also increase the accumulation of lipids within the cell or impair photosynthesis. The different metabolic responses were evaluated and the dataset was mined for potential transcriptional regulators of these changes. The experimental setup was as follows: Cells from the pennate diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum were grown in ESAW medium under continous fluorescent light at 21C in baffled shakeflasks. Exponentially growing cells were harvested by centrifugation and washed twice in 21gr/L NaCL to remove nutrients. Cells were subsequently resuspended in the five different media/conditions (control, darkness, no nitrate, no phosphate, nocodazole).
Project description:The only group of organisms in which a biological function for cadmium has been shown is the diatoms, which are unicellular phytoplankton. Yet diatoms exhibit similar sensitivity to Cd as other groups of phytoplankton. We have investigated responses of Cd on molecular, metabolic and physiological levels in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. P. tricornutum apparently has a high tolerance to Cd; only minor responses were observed on growth, pigment and transcriptional changes at cadmium concentrations of 123 µg/l. No significant changes in chlorophyll and xanthophyll levels were observed, and the very few transcripts affected strongly indicate that the cells were able to respond to the increased Cd2+ levels without changing proteins levels. At 10 times this concentration, 1230 µg/l, a much clearer response was observed, including transcripts encoding proteins involved in metal transport, cell signalling and detoxification processes. Our results point towards putative pathways for the removal or detoxification of Cd and its metabolites, as well as a possible Cd uptake mechanism. We predict that ATPase5-1B is involved in removal of Cd by pumping Cd2+ ions out of the cell, whereas VIT1/CCC1 sequesters Cd2+ in the vacuole. Cultures of Phaeodactylum tricornutum were treated with two concentrations of Cd2+, 123 µg/l and 1230 µg/l. The reference samples were grown in artificial seawater base AK modified with added f/2-medium nutrients. Three biological replicates were harvested for all samples.
Project description:Extensive gene methylation correlated strongly with transcriptional silencing and differential expression under specific conditions. DNA methylation and its role in gene regulation is conserved in stramenopile. Methylome of the whole genome of diatom phaeodactylum tricornutum.
Project description:Diatoms, which are responsible for up to 40% of the 45 to 50 billion metric tons of organic carbon production each year in the sea, are particularly sensitive to Fe stress. Here we describe the transcriptional response of the pennate diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum to Fe limitation using a partial genome microarray based on EST and genome sequence data. Processes carried out by components rich in Fe, such as photosynthesis, mitochondrial electron transport and nitrate assimilation are down-regulated to cope with the reduced cellular iron quota. This retrenchment is compensated by nitrogen (N) and carbon (C) reallocation from protein and storage carbohydrate degradation, adaptations to chlorophyll biosynthesis and pigment metabolism, removal of excess electron s by mitochondrial alternative oxidase (AOX), augmented Fe-independent oxidative stress responses, and sensitized iron capture mechanisms. Keywords: Marine phytoplankton, pinnate diatom Wild-type Phaeodactylum tricornutum was grown under Fe replete (10,000 nM) and Fe limiting (5nM) conditions. Partial genome gene expression analysis of iron-inducible genes was conducted using a two-color competitive hybridization microarray.
Project description:Here we use a transcriptomic approach to investigate the molecular underpinnings of thermal acclimation in the model diatom species Phaeodactylum tricornutum by comparing the differential gene expression in cultures acclimated to sub-optimal, optimal, and supra-optimal temperatures (10, 20 and 26.5 °C, respectively).
Project description:The only group of organisms in which a biological function for cadmium has been shown is the diatoms, which are unicellular phytoplankton. Yet diatoms exhibit similar sensitivity to Cd as other groups of phytoplankton. We have investigated responses of Cd on molecular, metabolic and physiological levels in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. P. tricornutum apparently has a high tolerance to Cd; only minor responses were observed on growth, pigment and transcriptional changes at cadmium concentrations of 123 µg/l. No significant changes in chlorophyll and xanthophyll levels were observed, and the very few transcripts affected strongly indicate that the cells were able to respond to the increased Cd2+ levels without changing proteins levels. At 10 times this concentration, 1230 µg/l, a much clearer response was observed, including transcripts encoding proteins involved in metal transport, cell signalling and detoxification processes. Our results point towards putative pathways for the removal or detoxification of Cd and its metabolites, as well as a possible Cd uptake mechanism. We predict that ATPase5-1B is involved in removal of Cd by pumping Cd2+ ions out of the cell, whereas VIT1/CCC1 sequesters Cd2+ in the vacuole.
Project description:We have investigated both the response to prolonged darkness and the re-acclimation to “moderate intensity” white irradiance (E = 100 µmol m-2 s-1) in the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, using an integrated approach involving global transcriptional profiling, pigment analyses, imaging and photo-physiological measurements. The responses were studied during continuous white light, after 48 h of dark treatment and after 0.5 h, 6 h, and 24 h of re-exposure to the initial irradiance.