The evolution of silicon transporters in diatoms

Date
2016-08-31Author
Durkin, Colleen A.
Concept link
Koester, Julie
Concept link
Bender, Sara J.
Concept link
Armbrust, E. Virginia
Concept link
Metadata
Show full item recordCitable URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1912/8513As published
https://doi.org/10.1111/jpy.12441DOI
10.1111/jpy.12441Keyword
Diatoms; Gene family; Molecular evolution; Nutrients; Silicon; TransporterAbstract
Diatoms are highly productive single-celled algae that form an intricately patterned silica cell wall after every cell division. They take up and utilize silicic acid from seawater via silicon transporter (SIT) proteins. This study examined the evolution of the SIT gene family to identify potential genetic adaptations that enable diatoms to thrive in the modern ocean. By searching for sequence homologs in available databases, the diversity of organisms found to encode SITs increased substantially and included all major diatom lineages and other algal protists. A bacterial-encoded gene with homology to SIT sequences was also identified, suggesting that a lateral gene transfer event occurred between bacterial and protist lineages. In diatoms, the SIT genes diverged and diversified to produce five distinct clades. The most basal SIT clades were widely distributed across diatom lineages, while the more derived clades were lineage-specific, which together produced a distinct repertoire of SIT types among major diatom lineages. Differences in the predicted protein functional domains encoded among SIT clades suggest that the divergence of clades resulted in functional diversification among SITs. Both laboratory cultures and natural communities changed transcription of each SIT clade in response to experimental or environmental growth conditions, with distinct transcriptional patterns observed among clades. Together, these data suggest that the diversification of SITs within diatoms led to specialized adaptations among diatoms lineages, and perhaps their dominant ability to take up silicic acid from seawater in diverse environmental conditions.
Description
© The Author(s), 2016. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Journal of Phycology 52 (2016): 716–731, doi:10.1111/jpy.12441.
Collections
Suggested Citation
Journal of Phycology 52 (2016): 716–731The following license files are associated with this item:
Except where otherwise noted, this item's license is described as Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Related items
Showing items related by title, author, creator and subject.
-
Diatom silicon isotopes as a proxy for silicic acid utilisation : a Southern Ocean core top calibration
Egan, Katherine E.; Rickaby, Rosalind E. M.; Leng, Melanie J.; Hendry, Katharine R.; Hermoso, Michael; Sloane, Hilary J.; Bostock, Helen; Halliday, Alex N. (Elsevier, 2012-08-11)Despite a growing body of work that uses diatom δ30Si to reconstruct past changes in silicic acid utilisation, few studies have focused on calibrating core top data with modern oceanographic conditions. In this study, a ... -
A surfzone morphological diffusivity estimated from the evolution of excavated holes
Moulton, Melissa; Elgar, Steve; Raubenheimer, Britt (John Wiley & Sons, 2014-07-14)Downslope gravity-driven sediment transport smooths steep nearshore bathymetric features, such as channels, bars, troughs, cusps, mounds, pits, scarps, and bedforms. Downslope transport appears approximately as a diffusive ... -
Evolution of the freshwater coastal current at the southern tip of Greenland
Lin, Peigen; Pickart, Robert S.; Torres, Daniel J.; Pacini, Astrid (American Meteorological Society, 2018-09-11)Shipboard hydrographic and velocity measurements collected in summer 2014 are used to study the evolution of the freshwater coastal current in southern Greenland as it encounters Cape Farewell. The velocity structure reveals ...