Universität zu Köln

Rossoni, Alessandro W. and Weber, Andreas P. M. (2019). Systems Biology of Cold Adaptation in the Polyextremophilic Red Alga Galdieria sulphuraria. Front. Microbiol., 10. LAUSANNE: FRONTIERS MEDIA SA. ISSN 1664-302X

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Abstract

Rapid fluctuation of environmental conditions can impose severe stress upon living organisms. Surviving such episodes of stress requires a rapid acclimation response, e.g., by transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms. Persistent change of the environmental context, however, requires longer-term adaptation at the genetic level. Fast-growing unicellular aquatic eukaryotes enable analysis of adaptive responses at the genetic level in a laboratory setting. In this study, we applied continuous cold stress (28 degrees C) to the thermoacidophile red alga G. sulphuraria, which is 14 degrees C below its optimal growth temperature of 42 degrees C. Cold stress was applied for more than 100 generations to identify components that are critical for conferring thermal adaptation. After cold exposure for more than 100 generations, the cold-adapted samples grew similar to 30% faster than the starting population. Whole-genome sequencing revealed 757 variants located on 429 genes (6.1% of the transcriptome) encoding molecular functions involved in cell cycle regulation, gene regulation, signaling, morphogenesis, microtubule nucleation, and transmembrane transport. CpG islands located in the intergenic region accumulated a significant number of variants, which is likely a sign of epigenetic remodeling. We present 20 candidate genes and three putative cis-regulatory elements with various functions most affected by temperature. Our work shows that natural selection toward temperature tolerance is a complex systems biology problem that involves gradual reprogramming of an intricate gene network and deeply nested regulators.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID ORCID Put Code Rossoni, Alessandro W. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED Weber, Andreas P. M. UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED UNSPECIFIED
URN:	urn:nbn:de:hbz:38-149902
DOI:	10.3389/fmicb.2019.00927
Journal or Publication Title:	Front. Microbiol.
Volume:	10
Date:	2019
Publisher:	FRONTIERS MEDIA SA
Place of Publication:	LAUSANNE
ISSN:	1664-302X
Language:	English
Faculty:	Unspecified
Divisions:	Unspecified
Subjects:	no entry
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Keywords Language REGULATORY ELEMENTS; MASS EXTINCTION; MUTATION-RATE; GENE-TRANSFER; GENOME; EVOLUTION; PHOTOSYNTHESIS; TEMPERATURE; MECHANISMS; CPG Multiple languages Microbiology Multiple languages
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	http://kups.ub.uni-koeln.de/id/eprint/14990