Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn of Naples, Villa Comunale, 80121, Naples, Italy.
Protistology and Aquatic Ecology, Department of Biology, Ghent University, 9000, Gent, Belgium.
Nat Commun. 2018 Nov 28;9(1):5050. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-07496-0.
A broad diversity of sex-determining systems has evolved in eukaryotes. However, information on the mechanisms of sex determination for unicellular microalgae is limited, including for diatoms, key-players of ocean food webs. Here we report the identification of a mating type (MT) determining gene for the diatom Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata. By comparing the expression profile of the two MTs, we find five MT-biased genes, of which one, MRP3, is expressed exclusively in MT+ strains in a monoallelic manner. A short tandem repeat of specific length in the region upstream of MRP3 is consistently present in MT+ and absent in MT- strains. MRP3 overexpression in an MT- strain induces sex reversal: the transgenic MT- can mate with another MT- strain and displays altered regulation of the other MT-biased genes, indicating that they lie downstream. Our data show that a relatively simple genetic program is involved in defining the MT in P. multistriata.
真核生物中存在广泛多样的性别决定系统。然而，关于单细胞微藻（包括海洋食物网中的关键角色硅藻）性别决定机制的信息有限。在这里，我们报告了一种硅藻拟菱形藻的交配型（MT）决定基因的鉴定。通过比较两种 MT 的表达谱，我们发现了五个 MT 偏向基因，其中一个基因 MRP3 以单等位基因的方式在 MT+菌株中特异性表达。MRP3 基因上游区域的短串联重复序列在 MT+和 MT-菌株中具有特定长度，并且始终存在。在 MT-菌株中过表达 MRP3 会诱导性别反转：转基因 MT-可以与另一个 MT-菌株交配，并显示其他 MT 偏向基因的调节发生改变，表明它们位于下游。我们的数据表明，一个相对简单的遗传程序参与了定义拟菱形藻的 MT。
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