title: Transcriptome sequencing of three Pseudo-nitzschia species reveals comparable gene sets and the presence of Nitric Oxide Synthase genes in diatoms.
abstract: Diatoms are among the most diverse eukaryotic microorganisms on Earth, they are responsible for a large fraction of primary production in the oceans and can be found in different habitats. Pseudo-nitzschia are marine planktonic diatoms responsible for blooms in coastal and oceanic waters. We analyzed the transcriptome of three species, Pseudo-nitzschia arenysensis, Pseudo-nitzschia delicatissima and Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata, with different levels of genetic relatedness. These species have a worldwide distribution and the last one produces the neurotoxin domoic acid. We were able to annotate about 80% of the sequences in each transcriptome and the analysis of the relative functional annotations allowed comparison of the main metabolic pathways, pathways involved in the biosynthesis of isoprenoids (MAV and MEP pathways), and pathways putatively involved in domoic acid synthesis. The search for homologous transcripts among the target species and other congeneric species resulted in the discovery of a sequence annotated as Nitric Oxide Synthase (NOS), found uniquely in Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata. The predicted protein product contained all the domains of the canonical metazoan sequence. Putative NOS sequences were found in other available diatom datasets, supporting a role for nitric oxide as signaling molecule in this group of microalgae.
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Valeria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Di Dato
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Musacchia
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Petrosino
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Shrikant
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Patil
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Montresor
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Remo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sanges
authors.affiliation: Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale 1, 80121, Naples, Italy.
authors.forename: Maria Immacolata
authors.initials: MI
authors.lastname: Ferrante
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D053898:Biosynthetic Pathways; D019295:Computational Biology / Q000379:methods; D017377:Diatoms / Q000145:classification / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D059014:High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; D007608:Kainic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D010802:Phylogeny; D020543:Proteome; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013729:Terpenes / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome
chemical_list: D020543:Proteome; D013729:Terpenes; D019001:Nitric Oxide Synthase; C012301:domoic acid; D007608:Kainic Acid