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The explanation for the continued existence of sex, despite its many costs, remains one of the major challenges of evolutionary biology. Previous experimental studies have demonstrated that sex increases the rate of adaptation in novel environments relative to asexual reproduction. Whereas these studies have investigated the impact of sex on adaptation to stressful abiotic environments, the potential for biotic interactions to influence this advantage of sex has been largely ignored. Species rarely exist in isolation in natural conditions, so the impact of sex on adaptation to a stressful abiotic environment may be altered by the interactions between coexisting species. To investigate the interplay of sex and competition on adaptation to deteriorating conditions, we allowed populations of the unicellular alga (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) to evolve in an environment to which they were initially poorly adapted. We manipulated both their mode of reproduction and the presence of a competitor, and monitored population size and proportion of evolutionary rescue events for each mode of reproduction. The results indicate that sex may be the beneficial strategy in the presence of the competitor. Sexual populations had highest probability of evolutionary rescue irrespective of the presence of the competitor. The overall advantage of sex was also manifested through higher level of adaptedness of survived sexual populations relative to asexual populations. Since competitive interactions are commonplace in nature, one of the explanations for the maintenance of sex by natural selection may be the increased rate of adaptation of sexual populations both in the presence and absence of competitors.  相似文献   

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Phylloquinone (PhQ), or vitamin K1, is an essential electron carrier (A1) in photosystem I (PSI). In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which is a model organism for the study of photosynthesis, a detailed characterization of the pathway is missing with only one mutant deficient for MEND having been analyzed. We took advantage of the fact that a double reduction of plastoquinone occurs in anoxia in the A1 site in the mend mutant, interrupting photosynthetic electron transfer, to isolate four new phylloquinone‐deficient mutants impaired in MENA, MENB, MENC (PHYLLO) and MENE. Compared with the wild type and complemented strains for MENB and MENE, the four men mutants grow slowly in low light and are sensitive to high light. When grown in low light they show a reduced photosynthetic electron transfer due to a specific decrease of PSI. Upon exposure to high light for a few hours, PSI becomes almost completely inactive, which leads in turn to lack of phototrophic growth. Loss of PhQ also fully prevents reactivation of photosynthesis after dark anoxia acclimation. In silico analyses allowed us to propose a PhQ biosynthesis pathway in Chlamydomonas that involves 11 enzymatic steps from chorismate located in the chloroplast and in the peroxisome.  相似文献   

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There is a pressing need to develop novel antibacterial agents given the widespread antibiotic resistance among pathogenic bacteria and the low specificity of the drugs available. Endolysins are antibacterial proteins that are produced by bacteriophage‐infected cells to digest the bacterial cell wall for phage progeny release at the end of the lytic cycle. These highly efficient enzymes show a considerable degree of specificity for the target bacterium of the phage. Furthermore, the emergence of resistance against endolysins appears to be rare as the enzymes have evolved to target molecules in the cell wall that are essential for bacterial viability. Taken together, these factors make recombinant endolysins promising novel antibacterial agents. The chloroplast of the green unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii represents an attractive platform for production of therapeutic proteins in general, not least due to the availability of established techniques for foreign gene expression, a lack of endotoxins or potentially infectious agents in the algal host, and low cost of cultivation. The chloroplast is particularly well suited to the production of endolysins as it mimics the native bacterial expression environment of these proteins while being devoid of their cell wall target. In this study, the endolysins Cpl‐1 and Pal, specific to the major human pathogen Streptococcus pneumoniae, were produced in the C. reinhardtii chloroplast. The antibacterial activity of cell lysates and the isolated endolysins was demonstrated against different serotypes of S. pneumoniae, including clinical isolates and total recombinant protein yield was quantified at ~1.3 mg/g algal dry weight.  相似文献   

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There is a growing interest in the use of microalgae as low‐cost hosts for the synthesis of recombinant products such as therapeutic proteins and bioactive metabolites. In particular, the chloroplast, with its small, genetically tractable genome (plastome) and elaborate metabolism, represents an attractive platform for genetic engineering. In Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, none of the 69 protein‐coding genes in the plastome uses the stop codon UGA, therefore this spare codon can be exploited as a useful synthetic biology tool. Here, we report the assignment of the codon to one for tryptophan and show that this can be used as an effective strategy for addressing a key problem in chloroplast engineering: namely, the assembly of expression cassettes in Escherichia coli when the gene product is toxic to the bacterium. This problem arises because the prokaryotic nature of chloroplast promoters and ribosome‐binding sites used in such cassettes often results in transgene expression in E. coli, and is a potential issue when cloning genes for metabolic enzymes, antibacterial proteins and integral membrane proteins. We show that replacement of tryptophan codons with the spare codon (UGG→UGA) within a transgene prevents functional expression in E. coli and in the chloroplast, and that co‐introduction of a plastidial trnW gene carrying a modified anticodon restores function only in the latter by allowing UGA readthrough. We demonstrate the utility of this system by expressing two genes known to be highly toxic to E. coli and discuss its value in providing an enhanced level of biocontainment for transplastomic microalgae.  相似文献   

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GTPases of the Ras superfamily regulate a wide variety of cellular processes including vesicular transport and various secretory pathways of the cell. ADP – ribosylation factor (ARF) belongs to one of the five major families of the Ras superfamily and serves as an important component of vesicle formation and transport machinery of the cells. The binding of GTP to these Arfs and its subsequent hydrolysis, induces conformational changes in these proteins leading to their enzymatic activities. The dimeric form of Arf is associated with membrane pinch‐off during vesicle formation. In this report, we have identified an arf gene from the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, CrArf, and showed that the oligomeric state of the protein in C. renhardtii is modulated by the cellular membrane environment of the organism. Protein cross‐linking experiments showed that the purified recombinant CrArf has the ability to form a dimer. Both the 20‐kDa monomeric and 40‐kDa dimeric forms of CrArf were recognized from Chlamydomonas total cell lysate (CrTLC) and purified recombinant CrArf by the CrArf specific antibody. The membranous environment of the cell appeared to facilitate dimerization of the CrArf, as dimeric form was found exclusively associated with the membrane bound organelles. The subcellular localization studies in Chlamydomonas suggested that CrArf mainly localized in the cytosol and was mislocalized in vesicle transport machinery inhibitor treated cells. This research sheds light on the importance of the cellular membrane environment for regulating the oligomeric state of CrArf protein in this organism and associated functional role.  相似文献   

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Environments rarely remain the same over time, and populations are therefore frequently at risk of going extinct when changes are significant enough to reduce fitness. Although many studies have investigated what attributes of the new environments and of the populations experiencing these changes will affect their probability of going extinct, limited work has been directed towards determining the role of population history on the probability of going extinct during severe environmental change. Here, we compare the extinction risk of populations with a history of selection in a benign environment, to populations with a history of selection in one or two stressful environments. We exposed spores and lines of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii from these three different histories to a range of severe environmental changes. We found that the extinction risk was higher for populations with a history of selection in stressful environments compared to populations with a history of selection in a benign environment. This effect was not due to differences in initial population sizes. Finally, the rates of extinction were highly repeatable within histories, indicating strong historical contingency of extinction risk. Hence, information on the selection history of a population can be used to predict their probability of going extinct during environmental change.  相似文献   

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The genetically tractable microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has many advantages as a model for renewable bioproducts and/or biofuels production. However, one limitation of C. reinhardtii is its relatively low‐lipid content compared with some other algal species. To overcome this limitation, we combined ethane methyl sulfonate mutagenesis with fluorescence‐activated cell sorting (FACS) of cells stained with the lipophilic stain Nile Red to isolate lipid hyperaccumulating mutants of C. reinhardtii. By manipulating the FACS gates, we sorted mutagenized cells with extremely high Nile Red fluorescence signals that were rarely detected in nonmutagenized populations. This strategy successfully isolated several putative lipid hyperaccumulating mutants exhibiting 23% to 58% (dry weight basis) higher fatty acid contents than their progenitor strains. Significantly, for most mutants, nitrogen starvation was not required to attain high‐lipid content nor was there a requirement for a deficiency in starch accumulation. Microscopy of Nile Red stained cells revealed that some mutants exhibit an increase in the number of lipid bodies, which correlated with TLC analysis of triacyglycerol content. Increased lipid content could also arise through increased biomass production. Collectively, our findings highlight the ability to enhance intracellular lipid accumulation in algae using random mutagenesis in conjunction with a robust FACS and lipid yield verification regime. Our lipid hyperaccumulating mutants could serve as a genetic resource for stacking additional desirable traits to further increase lipid production and for identifying genes contributing to lipid hyperaccumulation, without lengthy lipid‐induction periods.  相似文献   

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In plants, lipids of the photosynthetic membrane are synthesized by parallel pathways associated with the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and the chloroplast envelope membranes. Lipids derived from the two pathways are distinguished by their acyl‐constituents. Following this plant paradigm, the prevalent acyl composition of chloroplast lipids suggests that Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlamydomonas) does not use the ER pathway; however, the Chlamydomonas genome encodes presumed plant orthologues of a chloroplast lipid transporter consisting of TGD (TRIGALACTOSYLDIACYLGLYCEROL) proteins that are required for ER‐to‐chloroplast lipid trafficking in plants. To resolve this conundrum, we identified a mutant of Chlamydomonas deleted in the TGD2 gene and characterized the respective protein, CrTGD2. Notably, the viability of the mutant was reduced, showing the importance of CrTGD2. Galactoglycerolipid metabolism was altered in the tgd2 mutant with monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG) synthase activity being strongly stimulated. We hypothesize this to be a result of phosphatidic acid accumulation in the chloroplast outer envelope membrane, the location of MGDG synthase in Chlamydomonas. Concomitantly, increased conversion of MGDG into triacylglycerol (TAG) was observed. This TAG accumulated in lipid droplets in the tgd2 mutant under normal growth conditions. Labeling kinetics indicate that Chlamydomonas can import lipid precursors from the ER, a process that is impaired in the tgd2 mutant.  相似文献   

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HSP33 was originally identified in bacteria as a redox‐sensitive chaperone that protects unfolded proteins from aggregation. Here, we describe a eukaryote ortholog of HSP33 from the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which appears to play a protective role under light‐induced oxidizing conditions. The algal HSP33 exhibits chaperone activity, as shown by citrate synthase aggregation assays. Studies from the Jakob laboratory established that activation of the bacterial HSP33 upon its oxidation initiates by the release of pre‐bound Zn from the well conserved Zn‐binding motif Cys–X–Cys–Xn–Cys–X–X–Cys, and is followed by significant structural changes (Reichmann et al., 2012 ). Unlike the bacterial protein, the HSP33 from C. reinhardtii had lost the first cysteine residue of its center, diminishing Zn‐binding activity under all conditions. As a result, the algal protein can be easily activated by minor structural changes in response to oxidation and/or excess heat. An attempt to restore the missing first cysteine did not have a major effect on Zn‐binding and on the mode of activation. Replacement of all remaining cysteines abolished completely any residual Zn binding, although the chaperone activation was maintained. A phylogenetic analysis of the algal HSP33 showed that it clusters with the cyanobacterial protein, in line with its biochemical localization to the chloroplast. Indeed, expression of the algal HSP33 increases in response to light‐induced oxidative stress, which is experienced routinely by photosynthetic organisms. Despite the fact that no ortholog could be found in higher eukaryotes, its abundance in all algal species examined could have a biotechnological relevance.  相似文献   

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Cycling pesticides has been proposed as a means of retarding the evolution of resistance, but its efficacy has rarely been empirically tested. We evolved populations of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in the presence of three herbicides: atrazine, glyphosate and carbetamide. Populations were exposed to a weekly, biweekly and triweekly cycling between all three pairwise combinations of herbicides and continuously to each of the three herbicides. We explored the impacts of herbicide cycling on the rate of resistance evolution, the level of resistance selected, the cost of resistance and the degree of generality (cross‐resistance) observed. Herbicide cycling resulted in a diversity of outcomes: preventing evolution of resistance for some combinations of herbicides, having no impacts for others and increasing rates of resistance evolution in some instances. Weekly cycling of atrazine and carbetamide resulted in selection of a generalist population. This population had a higher level of resistance, and this generalist resistance was associated with a cost. The level of resistance selected did not vary amongst other regimes. Costs of resistance were generally highest when cycling was more frequent. Our data suggest that the effects of herbicide cycling on the evolution of resistance may be more complex and less favourable than generally assumed.  相似文献   

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Many eukaryotic green algae possess biophysical carbon‐concentrating mechanisms (CCMs) that enhance photosynthetic efficiency and thus permit high growth rates at low CO2 concentrations. They are thus an attractive option for improving productivity in higher plants. In this study, the intracellular locations of ten CCM components in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were confirmed. When expressed in tobacco, all of these components except chloroplastic carbonic anhydrases CAH3 and CAH6 had the same intracellular locations as in Chlamydomonas. CAH6 could be directed to the chloroplast by fusion to an Arabidopsis chloroplast transit peptide. Similarly, the putative inorganic carbon (Ci) transporter LCI1 was directed to the chloroplast from its native location on the plasma membrane. CCP1 and CCP2 proteins, putative Ci transporters previously reported to be in the chloroplast envelope, localized to mitochondria in both Chlamydomonas and tobacco, suggesting that the algal CCM model requires expansion to include a role for mitochondria. For the Ci transporters LCIA and HLA3, membrane location and Ci transport capacity were confirmed by heterologous expression and H14CO3 uptake assays in Xenopus oocytes. Both were expressed in Arabidopsis resulting in growth comparable with that of wild‐type plants. We conclude that CCM components from Chlamydomonas can be expressed both transiently (in tobacco) and stably (in Arabidopsis) and retargeted to appropriate locations in higher plant cells. As expression of individual Ci transporters did not enhance Arabidopsis growth, stacking of further CCM components will probably be required to achieve a significant increase in photosynthetic efficiency in this species.  相似文献   

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The identification of dynamic protein phosphorylation events is critical for understanding kinase/phosphatase‐regulated signaling pathways. To date, protein phosphorylation and kinase expression have been examined independently in photosynthetic organisms. Here we present a method to study the global kinome and phosphoproteome in tandem in a model photosynthetic organism, the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (Chlamydomonas), using mass spectrometry‐based label‐free proteomics. A dual enrichment strategy targets intact protein kinases via capture on immobilized multiplexed inhibitor beads with subsequent proteolytic digestion of unbound proteins and peptide‐based phosphorylation enrichment. To increase depth of coverage, both data‐dependent and data‐independent (via SWATH, Sequential Windowed Acquisition of All Theoretical Fragment Ion Mass Spectra) mass spectrometric acquisitions were performed to obtain a more than 50% increase in coverage of the enriched Chlamydomonas kinome over coverage found with no enrichment. The quantitative phosphoproteomic dataset yielded 2250 phosphopeptides and 1314 localized phosphosites with excellent reproducibility across biological replicates (90% of quantified sites with coefficient of variation below 11%). This approach enables simultaneous investigation of kinases and phosphorylation events at the global level to facilitate understanding of kinase networks and their influence in cell signaling events.  相似文献   

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Sulphur limitation may restrain cell growth and viability. In the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, sulphur limitation may induce H2 production lasting for several days, which can be exploited as a renewable energy source. Sulphur limitation causes a large number of physiological changes, including the inactivation of photosystem II (PSII), leading to the establishment of hypoxia, essential for the increase in hydrogenase expression and activity. The inactivation of PSII has long been assumed to be caused by the sulphur‐limited turnover of its reaction center protein PsbA. Here we reinvestigated this issue in detail and show that: (i) upon transferring Chlamydomonas cells to sulphur‐free media, the cellular sulphur content decreases only by about 25%; (ii) as demonstrated by lincomycin treatments, PsbA has a significant turnover, and other photosynthetic subunits, namely RbcL and CP43, are degraded more rapidly than PsbA. On the other hand, sulphur limitation imposes oxidative stress early on, most probably involving the formation of singlet oxygen in PSII, which leads to an increase in the expression of GDP‐L‐galactose phosphorylase, playing an essential role in ascorbate biosynthesis. When accumulated to the millimolar concentration range, ascorbate may inactivate the oxygen‐evolving complex and provide electrons to PSII, albeit at a low rate. In the absence of a functional donor side and sufficient electron transport, PSII reaction centers are inactivated and degraded. We therefore demonstrate that the inactivation of PSII is a complex and multistep process, which may serve to mitigate the damaging effects of sulphur limitation.  相似文献   

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Because of its complicated systematics, the bent‐winged bat is one of the most frequently studied bat species groups. In China, two morphologically similar bent‐winged bat species, Miniopterus fuliginosus and Miniopterus magnater were identified, but their distribution range and genetic differentiation are largely unexplored. In this study, we applied DNA bar codes and two other mitochondrial DNA genes including morphological parameters to determine the phylogeny, genetic differentiation, spatial distribution, and morphological difference of the M. fuliginosus and M. magnater sampled from China and one site in Vietnam. Mitochondrial DNA gene genealogies revealed two monophyletic lineages throughout the Tropic of Cancer. According to DNA bar code divergences, one is M. fuliginosus corresponding to the Chinese mainland and the other is M. magnater corresponding to tropical regions including Hainan and Guangdong provinces of China and Vietnam. Their most recent common ancestor was dated to the early stage of the Quaternary glacial period (ca. 2.26 million years ago [Ma] on the basis of D‐loop data, and ca. 1.69–2.37 Ma according to ND2). A population expansion event was inferred for populations of M. fuliginosus at 0.14 Ma. The two species probably arose in separate Pleistocene refugia under different climate zones. They significantly differed in forearm length, maxillary third molar width, and greatest length of the skull.  相似文献   

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