Integrated Physiologic and Proteomic Analyses Reveal the Molecular Mechanism of sp. in Response to Ultraviolet Irradiation Stress.

With the continuous development of space station construction, space ecosystem research has attracted increasing attention. However, the complicated responses of different candidate plants and algae to radiation stress remain unclear. The present study, using integrated physiologic and proteomic analyses, was carried out to reveal the molecular mechanism of sp. in response to ultraviolet (UV) irradiation stress. Under 1224 h of high-dose UV irradiation conditions, the contents of chlorophyll and soluble proteins in sp. cells were significantly higher than those in the control and 48 h of low-dose UV irradiation groups. The activity of catalase (CAT) increased with the extension of irradiation time, and the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) decreased first and then increased. Furthermore, differential volcano plot analysis of the proteomic data of sp. samples found only one protein with a significant difference. Differential protein GO analysis unveiled that UV irradiation can activate the antioxidant system of sp. and further impact photosynthesis by affecting the photoreaction and chlorophyll synthesis of sp. The most significant differences in KEGG pathway analysis were also associated with photosynthesis. The above results indicate that sp. has good UV radiation resistance ability by regulating its photosynthetic pigment content, photosynthetic activity, and antioxidant system, making it a potential candidate for the future development of space ecosystems.