Global Gene Expression Analysis during Germination in the ChytridiomyceteBlastocladiella emersonii

Silvia M. Salem-Izacc, Tie Koide, Ricardo Z. N. Vêncio, Suely L. Gomes
2008 Eukaryotic Cell  
Blastocladiella emersoniiis an aquatic fungus of the Chytridiomycete class. During germination, the zoospore, a motile nongrowing cell, goes through a cascade of morphological changes that culminates with its differentiation into the germling cell, capable of coenocytic vegetative growth. Transcriptome analyses ofB. emersoniicells were carried out during germination induced under various environmental conditions. Microarray data analyzing 3,563 distinctB. emersoniigenes revealed that 26% of
more » ... are differentially expressed during germination in nutrient medium at at least one of the time points investigated. Over 500 genes are upregulated during the time course of germination under those conditions, most being related to cell growth, including genes involved in protein biosynthesis, DNA transcription, energetic metabolism, carbohydrate and oligopeptide transport, and cell cycle control. On the other hand, several transcripts stored in the zoospores are downregulated during germination in nutrient medium, such as genes involved in signal transduction, amino acid transport, and chromosome organization. In addition, germination induced in the presence of nutrients was compared with that triggered either by adenine or potassium ions in inorganic salt solution. Several genes involved in cell growth, induced during germination in nutrient medium, do not show increased expression whenB. emersoniizoospores germinate in inorganic solution, suggesting that nutrients exert a positive effect on gene transcription. The transcriptome data also revealed that most genes involved in cell signaling show the same expression pattern irrespective of the initial germination stimulus.
doi:10.1128/ec.00330-08 pmid:19098129 pmcid:PMC2643612 fatcat:lmsuk7iwzngojbk4zwxvp4pl5y