| Abstract: | Two morphotypes, fusiform and oval, were isolated from a single clone of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum Bohlin and maintained as subclones by culturing in liquid and solid substrates, respectively. Salinity of the medium, from brackish to marine, had no effect on expression of the phenotypes. The oval cell is generated endogenously within a “transformed”fusiform cell upon transfer from liquid medium to agar plates. With the light microscope, normal and “transformed”fusiform cells, prior to giving rise to oval cells, can be discriminated by means of their staining response to toluidine blue. Sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of protein extracts from lysed cells revealed slight differences in polypeptide composition between fusiform and oval types. A phenotype-restoration experiment from oval to fusiform demonstrated that the oval type readily reestablished not only fusiform morphology but also the protein pattern characteristic for the fusiform type. Immunochemical analyses (western blots) using antisera raised against whole and lysed cells of both morphotypes revealed antigenic alterations of the oval morphotype. Several antigenic determinants restricted mainly to the surface of oval cells were detected. Results indicate that environmentally induced phenotypes of Phaeodactylum may be not only the consequence of specific gene expression but also the result of significant, general post-translational modifications. |
