Exploring Molecular Signs of Sex in the Marine Diatom <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i>
Sexual reproduction plays a fundamental role in diatom life cycles. It contributes to increasing genetic diversity through meiotic recombination and also represents the phase where large-sized cells are produced to counteract the cell size reduction process that characterizes these microalgae. With...
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doaj-5aa1edecc93742019473e33c2122b0772020-11-25T01:02:28ZengMDPI AGGenes2073-44252019-06-0110749410.3390/genes10070494genes10070494Exploring Molecular Signs of Sex in the Marine Diatom <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i>Maria Immacolata Ferrante0Laura Entrambasaguas1Mathias Johansson2Mats Töpel3Anke Kremp4Marina Montresor5Anna Godhe6Integrative Marine Ecology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, ItalyIntegrative Marine Ecology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE 405 30 Göteborg, SwedenDepartment of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE 405 30 Göteborg, SwedenBiological Oceanography, Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research Warnemünde, Seestraße 15, 18119 Rostock, GermanyIntegrative Marine Ecology, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Villa Comunale, 80121 Naples, ItalyDepartment of Marine Sciences, University of Gothenburg, Box 461, SE 405 30 Göteborg, SwedenSexual reproduction plays a fundamental role in diatom life cycles. It contributes to increasing genetic diversity through meiotic recombination and also represents the phase where large-sized cells are produced to counteract the cell size reduction process that characterizes these microalgae. With the aim to identify genes linked to the sexual phase of the centric planktonic diatom <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i>, we carried out an RNA-seq experiment comparing the expression level of transcripts in sexualized cells with that of large cells not competent for sex. A set of genes involved in meiosis were found upregulated. Despite the fact that flagellate gametes were observed in the sample, we did not detect the expression of genes involved in the synthesis of flagella that were upregulated during sexual reproduction in another centric diatom. A comparison with the set of genes changing during the first phases of sexual reproduction of the pennate diatom <i>Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata</i> revealed the existence of commonalities, including the strong upregulation of genes with an unknown function that we named Sex Induced Genes (SIG). Our results further broadened the panel of genes that can be used as a marker for sexual reproduction of diatoms, crucial for the interpretation of metatranscriptomic datasets.https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/10/7/494diatomsexual reproduction<i>Skeletonema marinoi</i>transcriptomicsmeiosisflagellasex induced genes (SIG) |
collection |
DOAJ |
language |
English |
format |
Article |
sources |
DOAJ |
author |
Maria Immacolata Ferrante Laura Entrambasaguas Mathias Johansson Mats Töpel Anke Kremp Marina Montresor Anna Godhe |
spellingShingle |
Maria Immacolata Ferrante Laura Entrambasaguas Mathias Johansson Mats Töpel Anke Kremp Marina Montresor Anna Godhe Exploring Molecular Signs of Sex in the Marine Diatom <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i> Genes diatom sexual reproduction <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i> transcriptomics meiosis flagella sex induced genes (SIG) |
author_facet |
Maria Immacolata Ferrante Laura Entrambasaguas Mathias Johansson Mats Töpel Anke Kremp Marina Montresor Anna Godhe |
author_sort |
Maria Immacolata Ferrante |
title |
Exploring Molecular Signs of Sex in the Marine Diatom <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i> |
title_short |
Exploring Molecular Signs of Sex in the Marine Diatom <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i> |
title_full |
Exploring Molecular Signs of Sex in the Marine Diatom <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i> |
title_fullStr |
Exploring Molecular Signs of Sex in the Marine Diatom <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i> |
title_full_unstemmed |
Exploring Molecular Signs of Sex in the Marine Diatom <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i> |
title_sort |
exploring molecular signs of sex in the marine diatom <i>skeletonema marinoi</i> |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
series |
Genes |
issn |
2073-4425 |
publishDate |
2019-06-01 |
description |
Sexual reproduction plays a fundamental role in diatom life cycles. It contributes to increasing genetic diversity through meiotic recombination and also represents the phase where large-sized cells are produced to counteract the cell size reduction process that characterizes these microalgae. With the aim to identify genes linked to the sexual phase of the centric planktonic diatom <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i>, we carried out an RNA-seq experiment comparing the expression level of transcripts in sexualized cells with that of large cells not competent for sex. A set of genes involved in meiosis were found upregulated. Despite the fact that flagellate gametes were observed in the sample, we did not detect the expression of genes involved in the synthesis of flagella that were upregulated during sexual reproduction in another centric diatom. A comparison with the set of genes changing during the first phases of sexual reproduction of the pennate diatom <i>Pseudo-nitzschia multistriata</i> revealed the existence of commonalities, including the strong upregulation of genes with an unknown function that we named Sex Induced Genes (SIG). Our results further broadened the panel of genes that can be used as a marker for sexual reproduction of diatoms, crucial for the interpretation of metatranscriptomic datasets. |
topic |
diatom sexual reproduction <i>Skeletonema marinoi</i> transcriptomics meiosis flagella sex induced genes (SIG) |
url |
https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4425/10/7/494 |
work_keys_str_mv |
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