Transcriptome analysis of acclimatory responses to thermal stress in Antarctic algae.
A customized cDNA chip analysis provided the relative expression profiling of 1439 ESTs of Chaetoceros neogracile in culture environments maintained between 4 and 10 degrees C. Among the 1439 probes, 21.5% were differentially regulated (2-fold) by the temperature upshift within three days. Up-regulation was more prominent among cytoprotective genes, whereas down-regulation was featured in photosynthetic genes. A third of the differentially expressed genes had an unknown function or no similarity to known genes, highlighting their potential importance as a resource to identify key players in the acclimation response of polar algae under thermal stress. Our transcriptome analysis also revealed novel aspects of temperature-responsive, coordinated changes in the abundance of specific mRNAs, along with the rapid establishment of molecular homeostasis in polar algae. Unexpectedly, a small set of genes encoding fucoxanthin chlorophyll a/c-binding proteins were rapidly up-regulated by thermal stress, implying that they have different roles other than light harvesting.
Hwang
Yong-Sic
YS
Department of Bioscience and Biotechnology, Konkuk University, Seoul 143-701, Republic of Korea.
Jung
Gyeongseo
G
Jin
Eonseon
E
D000064:Acclimatization / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D000864:Antarctic Regions; D017377:Diatoms / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D018506:Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; D018869:Heat-Shock Response / Q000235:genetics*; D006706:Homeostasis; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013696:Temperature
D012333:RNA, Messenger