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PubMed2006

Molecular and biochemical analysis of periplastidial starch metabolism in the cryptophyte Guillardia theta.

Starch in synchronously grown Guillardia theta cells accumulates throughout the light phase, followed by a linear degradation during the night. In contrast to the case for other unicellular algae such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, no starch turnover occurred in this organism under continuous light. The gene encoding granule-bound starch synthase (GBSS1), the enzyme responsible for amylose synthesis, displays a diurnal expression cycle. The pattern consisted of a maximal transcript abundance around the middle of the light phase and a very low level during the night. This diurnal regulation of GBSS1 transcript abundance was demonstrated to be independent of the circadian clock but tightly light regulated. A similar yet opposite type of regulation pattern was found for two alpha-amylase isoforms and for one of the two plastidic triose phosphate transporter genes investigated. In these cases, however, the transcript abundance peaked in the night phase. The second plastidic triose phosphate transporter gene had the GBSS1 mRNA abundance pattern. Quantification of the GBSS1 activity revealed that not only gene expression but also total enzyme activity exhibited a maximum in the middle of the light phase. To gain a first insight into the transport processes involved in starch biosynthesis in cryptophytes, we demonstrated the presence of both plastidic triose phosphate transporter and plastidic ATP/ADP transporter activities in proteoliposomes harboring either total membranes or plastid envelope membranes from G. theta. These molecular and biochemical data are discussed with respect to the environmental conditions experienced by G. theta and with respect to the unique subcellular location of starch in cryptophytes.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗
PubMed2005

Lineage-specific variations of congruent evolution among DNA sequences from three genomes, and relaxed selective constraints on rbcL in Cryptomonas (Cryptophyceae).

BACKGROUND: Plastid-bearing cryptophytes like Cryptomonas contain four genomes in a cell, the nucleus, the nucleomorph, the plastid genome and the mitochondrial genome. Comparative phylogenetic analyses encompassing DNA sequences from three different genomes were performed on nineteen photosynthetic and four colorless Cryptomonas strains. Twenty-three rbcL genes and fourteen nuclear SSU rDNA sequences were newly sequenced to examine the impact of photosynthesis loss on codon usage in the rbcL genes, and to compare the rbcL gene phylogeny in terms of tree topology and evolutionary rates with phylogenies inferred from nuclear ribosomal DNA (concatenated SSU rDNA, ITS2 and partial LSU rDNA), and nucleomorph SSU rDNA. RESULTS: Largely congruent branching patterns and accelerated evolutionary rates were found in nucleomorph SSU rDNA and rbcL genes in a clade that consisted of photosynthetic and colorless species suggesting a coevolution of the two genomes. The extremely accelerated rates in the rbcL phylogeny correlated with a shift from selection to mutation drift in codon usage of two-fold degenerate NNY codons comprising the amino acids asparagine, aspartate, histidine, phenylalanine, and tyrosine. Cysteine was the sole exception. The shift in codon usage seemed to follow a gradient from early diverging photosynthetic to late diverging photosynthetic or heterotrophic taxa along the branches. In the early branching taxa, codon preferences were changed in one to two amino acids, whereas in the late diverging taxa, including the colorless strains, between four and five amino acids showed changes in codon usage. CONCLUSION: Nucleomorph and plastid gene phylogenies indicate that loss of photosynthesis in the colorless Cryptomonas strains examined in this study possibly was the result of accelerated evolutionary rates that started already in photosynthetic ancestors. Shifts in codon usage are usually considered to be caused by changes in functional constraints and in gene expression levels. Thus, the increasing influence of mutation drift on codon usage along the clade may indicate gradually relaxed constraints and reduced expression levels on the rbcL gene, finally correlating with a loss of photosynthesis in the colorless Cryptomonas paramaecium strains.

Asparagine↗
PubMed2006

Comparative rates of evolution in endosymbiotic nuclear genomes.

BACKGROUND: The nucleomorphs associated with secondary plastids of cryptomonads and chlorarachniophytes are the sole examples of organelles with eukaryotic nuclear genomes. Although not as widespread as their prokaryotic equivalents in mitochondria and plastids, nucleomorph genomes share similarities in terms of reduction and compaction. They also differ in several aspects, not least in that they encode proteins that target to the plastid, and so function in a different compartment from that in which they are encoded. RESULTS: Here, we test whether the phylogenetically distinct nucleomorph genomes of the cryptomonad, Guillardia theta, and the chlorarachniophyte, Bigelowiella natans, have experienced similar evolutionary pressures during their transformation to reduced organelles. We compared the evolutionary rates of genes from nuclear, nucleomorph, and plastid genomes, all of which encode proteins that function in the same cellular compartment, the plastid, and are thus subject to similar selection pressures. Furthermore, we investigated the divergence of nucleomorphs within cryptomonads by comparing G. theta and Rhodomonas salina. CONCLUSION: Chlorarachniophyte nucleomorph genes have accumulated errors at a faster rate than other genomes within the same cell, regardless of the compartment where the gene product functions. In contrast, most nucleomorph genes in cryptomonads have evolved faster than genes in other genomes on average, but genes for plastid-targeted proteins are not overly divergent, and it appears that cryptomonad nucleomorphs are not presently evolving rapidly and have therefore stabilized. Overall, these analyses suggest that the forces at work in the two lineages are different, despite the similarities between the structures of their genomes.

Bacterial Proteins↗
PubMed2005

Rhodopsin-mediated photoreception in cryptophyte flagellates.

We show that phototaxis in cryptophytes is likely mediated by a two-rhodopsin-based photosensory mechanism similar to that recently demonstrated in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and for the first time, to our knowledge, report spectroscopic and charge movement properties of cryptophyte algal rhodopsins. The marine cryptophyte Guillardia theta exhibits positive phototaxis with maximum sensitivity at 450 nm and a secondary band above 500 nm. Variability of the relative sensitivities at these wavelengths and light-dependent inhibition of phototaxis in both bands by hydroxylamine suggest the involvement of two rhodopsin photoreceptors. In the related freshwater cryptophyte Cryptomonas sp. two photoreceptor currents similar to those mediated by the two sensory rhodopsins in green algae were recorded. Two cDNA sequences from G. theta and one from Cryptomonas encoding proteins homologous to type 1 opsins were identified. The photochemical reaction cycle of one Escherichia-coli-expressed rhodopsin from G. theta (GtR1) involves K-, M-, and O-like intermediates with relatively slow (approximately 80 ms) turnover time. GtR1 shows lack of light-driven proton pumping activity in E. coli cells, although carboxylated residues are at the positions of the Schiff base proton acceptor and donor as in proton pumping rhodopsins. The absorption spectrum, corresponding to the long-wavelength band of phototaxis sensitivity, makes this pigment a candidate for one of the G. theta sensory rhodopsins. A second rhodopsin from G. theta (GtR2) and the one from Cryptomonas have noncarboxylated residues at the donor position as in known sensory rhodopsins.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed2005

The unusual architecture and predicted function of the mitochondrion organelle in Cryptosporidium parvum and hominis species: the strong paradigm of the structure-function relationship.

Cryptosporidium spp. is a protozoan parasite that causes widespread diarrhoeal disease in humans and other animals and is responsible for large waterborne outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis. Unlike many organisms belonging to the phylum Apicomplexa, such as Plasmodium spp. and Toxoplasma gondii, there is no clinically proven drug treatment against this parasite. Some aspects of the basic biology of Cryptosporidium spp. such as the understanding of key metabolic pathways or the full description of the organellar compartment are still lacking. Here I present evidence of the anomalous shape and substructure of the mitochondrion organelle in C. parvum and C. hominis, which is closer to the Guillardia theta nucleomorph structure rather than to the canonical mitochondrion of the proximate apicomplexan T gondii. The atypical architecture is accomplished by an altered organellar metabolone, inferred by in silico conceptual prediction and characterized by unusual, partial and/or reduced pathways. However, phylogeneticanalyses of the mitochondrion and mitochondrion-related loci hsp60, hsp70 (dnaK), alternative oxidase (AOX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD) in C. parvum show diversiform evolutionary pathways, suggesting a "chimera" derived organelle. Taken together these data depict peculiar and intriguing aspects of the C. parvum and C. hominis anomalous mitochondrion framework for further comparative analysis of the organelle within the Cryptosporidium spp. order.

Adenosine Triphosphate↗