Berdieva Mariia, Safonov Pavel, Palii Olga, Prilutsky Mikhail, Matantseva Olga, Skarlato Sergei
Laboratory of Cytology of Unicellular Organisms, Institute of Cytology of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg 194064, Russia.
Central Collection of Algal Cultures, Faculty of Biology, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45141 Essen, Germany.
Int J Mol Sci. 2025 Jun 6;26(12):5432. doi: 10.3390/ijms26125432.
Dinoflagellates are unicellular organisms that are crucial components of aquatic ecosystems, known as important primary producers and causes of harmful blooms. They have complex life cycles, including immotile stages, which contribute to their distribution and survival in unfavorable conditions. Temperature changes, primarily cold stress, significantly impact dinoflagellate physiology, influencing metabolic processes, growth rates, and encystment/excystment cycles. This study investigates the transcriptome of temporary cold-induced cysts in the marine planktonic dinoflagellate . We compared gene expression in cysts subjected to a 7-h cold incubation with those returned to standard cultivation conditions and motile vegetative cells. Our results showed a marked predominance of downregulated genes in cold-induced cysts. Encystment affected signaling pathways, including calcium and protein kinase signaling, as well as RNA and protein metabolism. Upon returning to standard conditions, RNA metabolism was reactivated; upregulation of genes encoding some calcium-binding proteins and kinases was observed. Additionally, we analyzed RNA-binding pentatricopeptide repeat-containing proteins, the genes encoding which changed their expression in . cysts, for similarities to plant MRL1 proteins. Finally, we focused on MEI2-like proteins to confirm their role in non-sexual cyst formation and position them within the diversity of MEI2 homologs in dinoflagellates.
甲藻是单细胞生物，是水生生态系统的关键组成部分，被认为是重要的初级生产者和有害藻华的成因。它们具有复杂的生命周期，包括不活动阶段，这有助于它们在不利条件下的分布和生存。温度变化，主要是冷胁迫，会显著影响甲藻的生理机能，影响代谢过程、生长速率以及包囊形成/脱包囊循环。本研究调查了海洋浮游甲藻中临时冷诱导包囊的转录组。我们比较了经7小时冷培养的包囊与恢复到标准培养条件的包囊以及游动营养细胞中的基因表达。我们的结果显示，冷诱导包囊中下调基因明显占优势。包囊形成影响了信号通路，包括钙和蛋白激酶信号通路，以及RNA和蛋白质代谢。恢复到标准条件后，RNA代谢重新激活；观察到一些钙结合蛋白和激酶编码基因的上调。此外，我们分析了含RNA结合五肽重复序列的蛋白质，其编码基因在包囊中表达发生了变化，以寻找与植物MRL1蛋白的相似性。最后，我们聚焦于类MEI2蛋白，以确认它们在非有性包囊形成中的作用，并将它们定位在甲藻中MEI2同源物的多样性范围内。
