Integration of transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of cold shock response in Kosmotoga olearia, a typical thermophile with an incredible minimum growth temperature at 20 °C.

Kosmotoga olearia TBF 19.5.1 is a typical thermophile with optimal growth at 65 °C and also exhibits visible growth at an incredible minimum temperature (20 °C). It is considered an ideal model for investigating the evolutionary transition from thermophiles to mesophiles within Thermotogae. However, knowledge relevant to molecular mechanisms of K. olearia responding to cold shock is still limited. In this study, transcriptomics and proteomics were integrated to investigate the global variations at the transcript and protein level during cold shock in K. olearia. As a result, total 734 differentially expressed genes and 262 differentially expressed proteins were identified. The cold-responsive genes and proteins were associated with signaling transduction, transcription, translation and repair, cell wall/membrane reconstruction, amino acid biosynthesis, and stress response. However, most genes and proteins, involved in carbon metabolism, fatty acid biosynthesis, and energy production, were repressed. This work provides the first integrative transcriptomics and proteomics analyses of the cold shock response in K. olearia, and it offered new insights into the mechanisms of cold adaptation and post-transcriptional regulation of the distinctive thermophile within Thermotogae.