Morphological and transcriptomic evidence for ammonium induction of sexual reproduction in Thalassiosira pseudonana and other centric diatoms

The reproductive strategy of diatoms includes asexual and sexual phases, but in many species, including the model centric diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, sexual reproduction has never been observed. Furthermore, the environmental factors that trigger sexual reproduction in diatoms are not understoo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2017-07, Vol.12 (7), p.e0181098-e0181098
Main Authors: Moore, Eric R, Bullington, Briana S, Weisberg, Alexandra J, Jiang, Yuan, Chang, Jeff, Halsey, Kimberly H
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Algae
Ammonium
Ammonium Compounds - pharmacology
Ammonium salts
Auxospores
Bioinformatics
Biology and Life Sciences
Cell cycle
Cell division
Diatoms
Diatoms - classification
Diatoms - drug effects
Diatoms - genetics
Environmental aspects
Environmental factors
Evolution
Evolution, Molecular
Flagella
Gene expression
Gene Expression Profiling
Gene sequencing
Genes
Genetic aspects
Genetic diversity
Genetic Variation
Genomes
Germ Cells - drug effects
Germ Cells - metabolism
Influence
Meiosis
Morphology (Biology)
Oogonia
Phylogenetics
Phylogeny
Physiological aspects
Plant pathology
Population genetics
Reproduction
Reproduction (biology)
Reproduction - drug effects
Reproduction - genetics
Reproductive strategy
Research and Analysis Methods
Ribonucleic acid
RNA
Sequence Analysis, RNA
Sexual reproduction
Spermatogonia
Spores - drug effects
Spores - genetics
Transcription (Genetics)
Transcriptome
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Summary:The reproductive strategy of diatoms includes asexual and sexual phases, but in many species, including the model centric diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana, sexual reproduction has never been observed. Furthermore, the environmental factors that trigger sexual reproduction in diatoms are not understood. Although genome sequences of a few diatoms are available, little is known about the molecular basis for sexual reproduction. Here we show that ammonium reliably induces the key sexual morphologies, including oogonia, auxospores, and spermatogonia, in two strains of T. pseudonana, T. weissflogii, and Cyclotella cryptica. RNA sequencing revealed 1,274 genes whose expression patterns changed when T. pseudonana was induced into sexual reproduction by ammonium. Some of the induced genes are linked to meiosis or encode flagellar structures of heterokont and cryptophyte algae. The identification of ammonium as an environmental trigger suggests an unexpected link between diatom bloom dynamics and strategies for enhancing population genetic diversity.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0181098