Kirkham AR, Richthammer P, Schmidt K, Wustmann M, Maeda Y, Hedrich R, Brunner E, Tanaka T, Van Pee KH, Falciatore A, Mock T (2017)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2017
Book Volume: 11
Pages Range: 2452-2464
Journal Issue: 11
Diatoms contribute 20% of global primary production and form the basis of many marine food webs. Although their species diversity correlates with broad diversity in cell size, there is also an intraspecific cell-size plasticity owing to sexual reproduction and varying environmental conditions. However, despite the ecological significance of the diatom cell size for food-web structure and global biogeochemical cycles, our knowledge about genes underpinning the size of diatom cells remains elusive. Here, a combination of reverse genetics, experimental evolution and comparative RNA-sequencing analyses enabled us to identify a previously unknown genetic control of cell size in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. In particular, the targeted deregulation of the expression of the cell-wall protein silacidin caused a significant increase in valve diameter. Remarkably, the natural downregulation of the silacidin gene transcript due to experimental evolution under low temperature also correlated with cell-size increase. Our data give first evidence for a genetically controlled regulation of cell size in T. pseudonana and possibly other centric diatoms as they also encode the silacidin gene in their genomes.
APA:
Kirkham, A.R., Richthammer, P., Schmidt, K., Wustmann, M., Maeda, Y., Hedrich, R.,... Mock, T. (2017). A role for the cell-wall protein silacidin in cell size of the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana. Isme Journal, 11(11), 2452-2464. https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2017.100
MLA:
Kirkham, Amy R., et al. "A role for the cell-wall protein silacidin in cell size of the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana." Isme Journal 11.11 (2017): 2452-2464.
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