Inefficient serotype knock down leads to stable coexistence of different surface antigens on the outer membrane in Paramecium tetraurelia

Microbial impact to environmental toxicants Ni(II) and Co(II): Joint toxicity and cellular response in Paramecium

Cobalt (Co) and Nickel (Ni) are increasingly found in our environment. We analysed their combined toxicity and uptake mechanisms in the early food chain by studying bacteria and the bacterivorous ciliate Paramecium as a primary consumer. We exposed both species to these metals to measure the toxicity, uptake and transfer of metals from bacteria to Paramecium. We found that Ni is more toxic than Co, and that toxicity increases for both metals when (i) food bacteria are absent and (ii) both metals are applied in combination. The cellular content in bacteria after exposure shows a concentration dependent bias for either Ni or Co. Comparing single treatment and joint exposure, bacteria show increased levels of both metals when these are both exposed. To imitate the basic level of the food chain, we fed these bacteria to paramecia. The cellular content shows a similar ratio of Nickel and Cobalt as in food bacteria. This is different to the direct application of both metals to paramecia, where Cobalt is enriched over Nickel. This indicates that bacteria can selectively pre-accumulate metals for introduction into the food chain. We also analysed the transcriptomic response of Paramecium to sublethal doses of Nickel and Cobalt to gain insight into their toxicity mechanisms. Gene ontology (GO) analysis indicates common deregulated pathways, such as ammonium transmembrane transport and ubiquitine-associated protein degradation. Many redox-related genes also show deregulation of gene expression, indicating cellular adaptation to increased RONS stress. This suggests that both metals may also target the same cellular pathways and this is consistent with the increased toxicity of both metals when used together. Our data reveal complex ecotoxicological pathways for these metals and highlights the different parameters for their fate in the ecosystem, in the food chain and their ecotoxicological risk after environmental contamination.

Two Piwis with Ago-like functions silence somatic genes at the chromatin level

Most sRNA biogenesis mechanisms involve either RNAse III cleavage or ping-pong amplification by different Piwi proteins harbouring slicer activity. Here, we follow the question why the mechanism of transgene-induced silencing in the ciliate Paramecium needs both Dicer activity and two Ptiwi proteins. This pathway involves primary siRNAs produced from non-translatable transgenes and secondary siRNAs from targeted endogenous loci. Our data does not indicate any signatures from ping-pong amplification but Dicer cleavage of long dsRNA. Ptiwi13 and 14 prefer different sub-cellular localizations and different preferences for primary and secondary siRNAs but do not load them mutually exclusive. Both Piwis enrich for antisense RNAs and show a general preference for uridine-rich sRNAs along the entire sRNA length. In addition, Ptiwi14-loaded siRNAs show a 5´-U signature. Our data indicates both Ptiwis and 2´-O-methylation contributing to strand selection of Dicer cleaved siRNAs. This unexpected function of the two distinct vegetative Piwis extends the increasing knowledge of the diversity of Piwi functions in diverse silencing pathways. We describe an unusual mode of action of Piwi proteins extending not only the great variety of Piwi-associated RNAi pathways but moreover raising the question whether this could have been the primordial one.

Exogenous RNAi mechanisms contribute to transcriptome adaptation by phased siRNA clusters in Paramecium

Extensive research has characterized distinct exogenous RNAi pathways interfering in gene expression during vegetative growth of the unicellular model ciliate Paramecium. However, role of RNAi in endogenous transcriptome regulation, and environmental adaptation is unknown. Here, we describe the first genome-wide profiling of endogenous sRNAs in context of different transcriptomic states (serotypes). We developed a pipeline to identify, and characterize 2602 siRNA producing clusters (SRCs). Our data show no evidence that SRCs produce miRNAs, and in contrast to other species, no preference for strand specificity of siRNAs. Interestingly, most SRCs overlap coding genes and a separate group show siRNA phasing along the entire open reading frame, suggesting that the mRNA transcript serves as a source for siRNAs. Integrative analysis of siRNA abundance and gene expression levels revealed surprisingly that mRNA and siRNA show negative as well as positive associations. Two RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase mutants, RDR1 and RDR2, show a drastic loss of siRNAs especially in phased SRCs accompanied with increased mRNA levels. Importantly, most SRCs depend on both RDRs, reminiscent to primary siRNAs in the RNAi against exogenous RNA, indicating mechanistic overlaps between exogenous and endogenous RNAi contributing to flexible transcriptome adaptation.

Differential subcellular distribution of four phospholipase C isoforms and secretion of GPI-PLC activity

Phospholipase C (PLC) is an important enzyme of signal transduction pathways by generation of second messengers from membrane lipids. PLCs are also indicated to cleave glycosylphosphatidylinositol (GPI)-anchors of surface proteins thus releasing these into the environment. However, it remains unknown whether this enzymatic activity on the surface is due to distinct PLC isoforms in higher eukaryotes. Ciliates have, in contrast to other unicellular eukaryotes, multiple PLC isoforms as mammals do. Thus, Paramecium represents a perfect model to study subcellular distribution and potential surface activity of PLC isoforms. We have identified distinct subcellular localizations of four PLC isoforms indicating functional specialization. The association with different calcium release channels (CRCs) argues for distinct subcellular functions. They may serve as PI-PLCs in microdomains for local second messenger responses rather than free floating IP₃. In addition, all isoforms can be found on the cell surface and they are found together with GPI-cleaved surface proteins in salt/ethanol washes of cells. We can moreover show them in medium supernatants of living cells where they have access to GPI-anchored surface proteins. Among the isoforms we cannot assign GPI-PLC activity to specific PLC isoforms; rather each PLC is potentially responsible for the release of GPI-anchored proteins from the surface.

Distinct RNA-dependent RNA polymerases are required for RNAi triggered by double-stranded RNA versus truncated transgenes in Paramecium tetraurelia

In many eukaryotes, RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRPs) play key roles in the RNAi pathway. They have been implicated in the recognition and processing of aberrant transcripts triggering the process, and in amplification of the silencing response. We have tested the functions of RdRP genes from the ciliate Paramecium tetraurelia in experimentally induced and endogenous mechanisms of gene silencing. In this organism, RNAi can be triggered either by high-copy, truncated transgenes or by directly feeding cells with double-stranded RNA (dsRNA). Surprisingly, dsRNA-induced silencing depends on the putatively functional RDR1 and RDR2 genes, which are required for the accumulation of both primary siRNAs and a distinct class of small RNAs suggestive of secondary siRNAs. In contrast, a third gene with a highly divergent catalytic domain, RDR3, is required for siRNA accumulation when RNAi is triggered by truncated transgenes. Our data further implicate RDR3 in the accumulation of previously described endogenous siRNAs and in the regulation of the surface antigen gene family. While only one of these genes is normally expressed in any clonal cell line, the knockdown of RDR3 leads to co-expression of multiple antigens. These results provide evidence for a functional specialization of Paramecium RdRP genes in distinct RNAi pathways operating during vegetative growth.

Antigenic Variation in Ciliates: Antigen Structure, Function, Expression

In the past decades, the major focus of antigen variation research has been on parasitic protists. However, antigenic variation occurs also in free-living protists. The antigenic systems of the ciliates Paramecium and Tetrahymena have been studied for more than 100 yr. In spite of different life strategies and distant phylogenetic relationships of free-living ciliates and parasitic protists, their antigenic systems have features in common, such as the presence of repeated protein motifs and multigene families. The function of variable surface antigens in free-living ciliates is still unknown. Up to now no detailed monitoring of antigen expression in free-living ciliates in natural habitats has been performed. Unlike stochastic switching in parasites, antigen expression in ciliates can be directed, e.g. by temperature, which holds great advantages for research on the expression mechanism. Regulated expression of surface antigens occurs in an exclusive way and the responsible mechanism is complex, involving both transcriptional and post-transcriptional features. The involvement of homology-dependent effects has been proposed several times but has not been proved yet.

Posttranscriptional control is a strong factor enabling exclusive expression of surface antigens in Paramecium tetraurelia

Variable antigens are large proteins located on the outer membrane of parasitic but also of free-living protists. Multigene families encoding surface antigens demonstrate an exclusive expression of proteins. The resulting presence of just one protein species on the cell surface is required for surface antigen function; therefore, the molecular mechanism of exclusive expression is of main interest. Regulation of gene expression and mechanisms establishing switching of antigens are hardly understood in any organism. Here we report on the reaction of Paramecium to the artificial knock down of surface antigen 51A expression by bacteria-mediated RNAi. This technique involves the feeding of dsRNA-producing bacteria. We analyzed different fragments of the target gene for dsRNA template regarding their specific knock down efficiency and found great differences. Treatment of Paramecia with RNAi against the 51A antigen demonstrated that although a massive amount of mRNA was present, the protein was not detected on the cell surface. Moreover, a minor abundance of 51D transcripts resulted in an exclusive presence of 51D proteins on the cell surface. This posttranscriptional regulation was confirmed by the transcript ratio (51A/51D) determined by real-time (RT) PCR of single cells. Because we were able to document unexclusive transcription also in wild-type cells our results indicate that this posttranscriptional regulation is a main factor of enabling exclusive gene expression. The comparison of serotype shifts, caused by efficient and inefficient knock down, indicates an involvement of full-length transcripts in regulation of gene expression. Thus, our study gives new insights into the mechanism of exclusive expression on the molecular level: (i) exclusive transcription does not occur, (ii) posttranscriptional regulation is a powerful factor enabling exclusive antigen expression, and (iii) surface antigen mRNA is shown to be involved in this mechanism in a regulating way.