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Zou Y, Sabljić I, Horbach N, Dauphinee AN, Åsman A, Sancho Temino L, Minina EA, Drag M, Stael S, Poreba M, Ståhlberg J, Bozhkov PV. Thermoprotection by a cell membrane-localized metacaspase in a green alga. THE PLANT CELL 2024; 36:665-687. [PMID: 37971931 PMCID: PMC10896300 DOI: 10.1093/plcell/koad289] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/24/2023] [Revised: 10/10/2023] [Accepted: 11/12/2023] [Indexed: 11/19/2023]
Abstract
Caspases are restricted to animals, while other organisms, including plants, possess metacaspases (MCAs), a more ancient and broader class of structurally related yet biochemically distinct proteases. Our current understanding of plant MCAs is derived from studies in streptophytes, and mostly in Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana) with 9 MCAs with partially redundant activities. In contrast to streptophytes, most chlorophytes contain only 1 or 2 uncharacterized MCAs, providing an excellent platform for MCA research. Here we investigated CrMCA-II, the single type-II MCA from the model chlorophyte Chlamydomonas (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii). Surprisingly, unlike other studied MCAs and similar to caspases, CrMCA-II dimerizes both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, activation of CrMCA-II in vivo correlated with its dimerization. Most of CrMCA-II in the cell was present as a proenzyme (zymogen) attached to the plasma membrane (PM). Deletion of CrMCA-II by genome editing compromised thermotolerance, leading to increased cell death under heat stress. Adding back either wild-type or catalytically dead CrMCA-II restored thermoprotection, suggesting that its proteolytic activity is dispensable for this effect. Finally, we connected the non-proteolytic role of CrMCA-II in thermotolerance to the ability to modulate PM fluidity. Our study reveals an ancient, MCA-dependent thermotolerance mechanism retained by Chlamydomonas and probably lost during the evolution of multicellularity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yong Zou
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Igor Sabljić
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Natalia Horbach
- Department of Chemical Biology and Bioimaging, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Adrian N Dauphinee
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Anna Åsman
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Lucia Sancho Temino
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Elena A Minina
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Marcin Drag
- Department of Chemical Biology and Bioimaging, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Simon Stael
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Marcin Poreba
- Department of Chemical Biology and Bioimaging, Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, 50-370 Wroclaw, Poland
| | - Jerry Ståhlberg
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
| | - Peter V Bozhkov
- Department of Molecular Sciences, Uppsala BioCenter, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences and Linnean Center for Plant Biology, SE-756 51 Uppsala, Sweden
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Zhang N, Venn B, Bailey CE, Xia M, Mattoon EM, Mühlhaus T, Zhang R. Moderate high temperature is beneficial or detrimental depending on carbon availability in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. JOURNAL OF EXPERIMENTAL BOTANY 2024; 75:979-1003. [PMID: 37877811 DOI: 10.1093/jxb/erad405] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/21/2023] [Accepted: 10/21/2023] [Indexed: 10/26/2023]
Abstract
High temperatures impair plant growth and reduce agricultural yields, but the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. The unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is an excellent model to study heat responses in photosynthetic cells due to its fast growth rate, many similarities in cellular processes to land plants, simple and sequenced genome, and ample genetic and genomics resources. Chlamydomonas grows in light by photosynthesis and with externally supplied acetate as an organic carbon source. Understanding how organic carbon sources affect heat responses is important for the algal industry but remains understudied. We cultivated wild-type Chlamydomonas under highly controlled conditions in photobioreactors at 25 °C (control), 35 °C (moderate high temperature), or 40 °C (acute high temperature) with or without constant acetate supply for 1 or 4 day. Treatment at 35 °C increased algal growth with constant acetate supply but reduced algal growth without sufficient acetate. The overlooked and dynamic effects of 35 °C could be explained by induced acetate uptake and metabolism. Heat treatment at 40 °C for more than 2 day was lethal to algal cultures with or without constant acetate supply. Our findings provide insights to understand algal heat responses and help improve thermotolerance in photosynthetic cells.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ningning Zhang
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO 63132, USA
| | - Benedikt Venn
- Computational Systems Biology, RPTU Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | | | - Ming Xia
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO 63132, USA
| | - Erin M Mattoon
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO 63132, USA
- Plant and Microbial Biosciences Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
| | - Timo Mühlhaus
- Computational Systems Biology, RPTU Kaiserslautern, 67663 Kaiserslautern, Germany
| | - Ru Zhang
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO 63132, USA
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Findinier J. Autolysin Production from Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Bio Protoc 2023; 13:e4705. [PMID: 37449035 PMCID: PMC10336564 DOI: 10.21769/bioprotoc.4705] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/09/2023] [Revised: 02/26/2023] [Accepted: 04/16/2023] [Indexed: 07/18/2023] Open
Abstract
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a model organism for various processes, from photosynthesis to cilia biogenesis, and a great chassis to learn more about biofuel production. This is due to the width of molecular tools available, which have recently expanded with the development of a modular cloning system but, most importantly, with CRISPR/Cas9 editing now being possible. This technique has proven to be more efficient in the absence of a cell wall by using specific mutants or by digesting Chlamydomonas cell wall using the mating-specific metalloprotease autolysin (also called gametolysin). Multiple protocols have been used and shared for autolysin production from Chlamydomonas cells; however, they provide very inconsistent results, which hinders the capacity to routinely perform CRISPR mutagenesis. Here, we propose a simple protocol for autolysin production requiring transfer of cells from plates into a dense liquid suspension, gametogenesis by overnight incubation before mixing of gametes, and enzyme harvesting after 2 h. This protocol has shown to be highly efficient for autolysin production regardless of precise control over cell density at any step. Requiring a minimal amount of labor, it will provide a simple, ready-to-go approach to produce an enzyme critical for the generation of targeted mutants.
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Affiliation(s)
- Justin Findinier
- Biology Science & Engineering, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Stanford, USA
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Mattoon EM, McHargue W, Bailey CE, Zhang N, Chen C, Eckhardt J, Daum CG, Zane M, Pennacchio C, Schmutz J, O'Malley RC, Cheng J, Zhang R. High-throughput identification of novel heat tolerance genes via genome-wide pooled mutant screens in the model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. PLANT, CELL & ENVIRONMENT 2023; 46:865-888. [PMID: 36479703 PMCID: PMC9898210 DOI: 10.1111/pce.14507] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2022] [Revised: 11/04/2022] [Accepted: 12/05/2022] [Indexed: 06/17/2023]
Abstract
Different high temperatures adversely affect crop and algal yields with various responses in photosynthetic cells. The list of genes required for thermotolerance remains elusive. Additionally, it is unclear how carbon source availability affects heat responses in plants and algae. We utilized the insertional, indexed, genome-saturating mutant library of the unicellular, eukaryotic green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to perform genome-wide, quantitative, pooled screens under moderate (35°C) or acute (40°C) high temperatures with or without organic carbon sources. We identified heat-sensitive mutants based on quantitative growth rates and identified putative heat tolerance genes (HTGs). By triangulating HTGs with heat-induced transcripts or proteins in wildtype cultures and MapMan functional annotations, we presented a high/medium-confidence list of 933 Chlamydomonas genes with putative roles in heat tolerance. Triangulated HTGs include those with known thermotolerance roles and novel genes with little or no functional annotation. About 50% of these high-confidence HTGs in Chlamydomonas have orthologs in green lineage organisms, including crop species. Arabidopsis thaliana mutants deficient in the ortholog of a high-confidence Chlamydomonas HTG were also heat sensitive. This work expands our knowledge of heat responses in photosynthetic cells and provides engineering targets to improve thermotolerance in algae and crops.
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Affiliation(s)
- Erin M. Mattoon
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri 63132, USA
- Plant and Microbial Biosciences Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri 63130, USA
| | - William McHargue
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri 63132, USA
| | | | - Ningning Zhang
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri 63132, USA
| | - Chen Chen
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA
| | - James Eckhardt
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri 63132, USA
| | - Chris G. Daum
- U.S. Department of Energy, Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Matt Zane
- U.S. Department of Energy, Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Christa Pennacchio
- U.S. Department of Energy, Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Jeremy Schmutz
- U.S. Department of Energy, Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Ronan C. O'Malley
- U.S. Department of Energy, Joint Genome Institute, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
- Environmental Genomics and Systems Biology, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, USA
| | - Jianlin Cheng
- Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri 65211, USA
| | - Ru Zhang
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri 63132, USA
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Zhang N, Mattoon EM, McHargue W, Venn B, Zimmer D, Pecani K, Jeong J, Anderson CM, Chen C, Berry JC, Xia M, Tzeng SC, Becker E, Pazouki L, Evans B, Cross F, Cheng J, Czymmek KJ, Schroda M, Mühlhaus T, Zhang R. Systems-wide analysis revealed shared and unique responses to moderate and acute high temperatures in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Commun Biol 2022; 5:460. [PMID: 35562408 PMCID: PMC9106746 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-022-03359-z] [Citation(s) in RCA: 12] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/01/2021] [Accepted: 04/12/2022] [Indexed: 12/15/2022] Open
Abstract
Different intensities of high temperatures affect the growth of photosynthetic cells in nature. To elucidate the underlying mechanisms, we cultivated the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under highly controlled photobioreactor conditions and revealed systems-wide shared and unique responses to 24-hour moderate (35°C) and acute (40°C) high temperatures and subsequent recovery at 25°C. We identified previously overlooked unique elements in response to moderate high temperature. Heat at 35°C transiently arrested the cell cycle followed by partial synchronization, up-regulated transcripts/proteins involved in gluconeogenesis/glyoxylate-cycle for carbon uptake and promoted growth. But 40°C disrupted cell division and growth. Both high temperatures induced photoprotection, while 40°C distorted thylakoid/pyrenoid ultrastructure, affected the carbon concentrating mechanism, and decreased photosynthetic efficiency. We demonstrated increased transcript/protein correlation during both heat treatments and hypothesize reduced post-transcriptional regulation during heat may help efficiently coordinate thermotolerance mechanisms. During recovery after both heat treatments, especially 40°C, transcripts/proteins related to DNA synthesis increased while those involved in photosynthetic light reactions decreased. We propose down-regulating photosynthetic light reactions during DNA replication benefits cell cycle resumption by reducing ROS production. Our results provide potential targets to increase thermotolerance in algae and crops. A systems-wide analysis of the single-cell green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardti reveals shared and unique responses to moderate and acute high temperatures using multiple-level investigation of transcriptomics, proteomics, cell physiology, photosynthetic parameters, and cellular ultrastructure.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ningning Zhang
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Erin M Mattoon
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA.,Plant and Microbial Biosciences Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130, USA
| | - Will McHargue
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA.,Plant and Microbial Biosciences Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130, USA
| | | | - David Zimmer
- TU Kaiserslautern, Kaiserslautern, 67663, Germany
| | - Kresti Pecani
- The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, 10065, USA
| | - Jooyeon Jeong
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Cheyenne M Anderson
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA.,Plant and Microbial Biosciences Program, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University in Saint Louis, St. Louis, Missouri, 63130, USA
| | - Chen Chen
- University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri, 65211, USA
| | - Jeffrey C Berry
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Ming Xia
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Shin-Cheng Tzeng
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Eric Becker
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Leila Pazouki
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Bradley Evans
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | - Fred Cross
- The Rockefeller University, New York, New York, 10065, USA
| | - Jianlin Cheng
- University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, Missouri, 65211, USA
| | - Kirk J Czymmek
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA
| | | | | | - Ru Zhang
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, Missouri, 63132, USA.
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