Decryption of the survival "black box": gene family expansion promotes the encystment in ciliated protists.

Autor: Jin D; Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolution of Protozoa in Wetland, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710119, China., Li C; Key Laboratory of Evolution & Marine Biodiversity (Ministry of Education), and Institute of Evolution & Marine Biodiversity, Ocean University of China, Qingdao, 266003, China., Chen X; Laboratory of Marine Protozoan Biodiversity and Evolution, Marine College, Shandong University, Weihai, 264209, China.; Suzhou Research Institute, Shandong University, Suzhou, 215123, China., Wang Y; Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolution of Protozoa in Wetland, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710119, China., Al-Rasheid KAS; Zoology Department, College of Science, King Saud University, Riyadh, 11451, Saudi Arabia., Stover NA; Department of Biology, Bradley University, Peoria, 61625, USA., Shao C; Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolution of Protozoa in Wetland, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710119, China. shaochen@snnu.edu.cn., Zhang T; Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolution of Protozoa in Wetland, College of Life Sciences, Shaanxi Normal University, Xi'an, 710119, China. tengtzhang@snnu.edu.cn.
Jazyk: angličtina
Zdroj: BMC genomics [BMC Genomics] 2024 Mar 18; Vol. 25 (1), pp. 286. Date of Electronic Publication: 2024 Mar 18.
DOI: 10.1186/s12864-024-10207-3
Abstrakt: Background: Encystment is an important survival strategy extensively employed by microbial organisms to survive unfavorable conditions. Single-celled ciliated protists (ciliates) are popular model eukaryotes for studying encystment, whereby these cells degenerate their ciliary structures and develop cyst walls, then reverse the process under more favorable conditions. However, to date, the evolutionary basis and mechanism for encystment in ciliates is largely unknown. With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing technologies, genome sequencing and comparative genomics of ciliates have become effective methods to provide insights into above questions.
Results: Here, we profiled the MAC genome of Pseudourostyla cristata, a model hypotrich ciliate for encystment studies. Like other hypotrich MAC genomes, the P. cristata MAC genome is extremely fragmented with a single gene on most chromosomes, and encodes introns that are generally small and lack a conserved branch point for pre-mRNA splicing. Gene family expansion analyses indicate that multiple gene families involved in the encystment are expanded during the evolution of P. cristata. Furthermore, genomic comparisons with other five representative hypotrichs indicate that gene families of phosphorelay sensor kinase, which play a role in the two-component signal transduction system that is related to encystment, show significant expansion among all six hypotrichs. Additionally, cyst wall-related chitin synthase genes have experienced structural changes that increase them from single-exon to multi-exon genes during evolution. These genomic features potentially promote the encystment in hypotrichs and enhance their ability to survive in adverse environments during evolution.
Conclusions: We systematically investigated the genomic structure of hypotrichs and key evolutionary phenomenon, gene family expansion, for encystment promotion in ciliates. In summary, our results provided insights into the evolutionary mechanism of encystment in ciliates.
(© 2024. The Author(s).)
Databáze: MEDLINE
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