Regulation of Carbon Metabolism by Environmental Conditions: A Perspective From Diatoms and Other Chromalveolates

Diatoms belong to a major, diverse and species-rich eukaryotic clade, the Heterokonta, within the polyphyletic chromalveolates. They evolved as a result of secondary endosymbiosis with one or more Plantae ancestors, but their precise evolutionary history is enigmatic. Nevertheless, this has conferre...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Frontiers in plant science 2020-07, Vol.11, p.1033-1033
Main Authors: Launay, Hélène, Huang, Wenmin, Maberly, Stephen C., Gontero, Brigitte
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Botanics
Calvin cycle
CO2 concentrating mechanism
Life Sciences
Microbiology and Parasitology
Phaeodactylum tricornutum
Plant Science
redox regulation
Thalassiosira pseudonana
Vegetal Biology
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Diatoms belong to a major, diverse and species-rich eukaryotic clade, the Heterokonta, within the polyphyletic chromalveolates. They evolved as a result of secondary endosymbiosis with one or more Plantae ancestors, but their precise evolutionary history is enigmatic. Nevertheless, this has conferred them with unique structural and biochemical properties that have allowed them to flourish in a wide range of different environments and cope with highly variable conditions. We review the effect of pH, light and dark, and CO2 concentration on the regulation of carbon uptake and assimilation. We discuss the regulation of the Calvin-Benson-Bassham cycle, glycolysis, lipid synthesis, and carbohydrate synthesis at the level of gene transcripts (transcriptomics), proteins (proteomics) and enzyme activity. In contrast to Viridiplantae where redox regulation of metabolic enzymes is important, it appears to be less common in diatoms, based on the current evidence, but regulation at the transcriptional level seems to be widespread. The role of post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation, glutathionylation, etc., and of protein-protein interactions, has been overlooked and should be investigated further. Diatoms and other chromalveolates are understudied compared to the Viridiplantae, especially given their ecological importance, but we believe that the ever-growing number of sequenced genomes combined with proteomics, metabolomics, enzyme measurements, and the application of novel techniques will provide a better understanding of how this important group of algae maintain their productivity under changing conditions.
ISSN:1664-462X
1664-462X
DOI:10.3389/fpls.2020.01033