Zinc deficiency impacts CO2 assimilation and disrupts copper homeostasis in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Zinc is an essential nutrient because of its role in catalysis and in protein stabilization, but excess zinc is deleterious. We distinguished four nutritional zinc states in the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: toxic, replete, deficient, and limited. Growth is inhibited in zinc-limited and zinc-toxic cells relative to zinc-replete cells, whereas zinc deficiency is visually asymptomatic but distinguished by the accumulation of transcripts encoding ZIP family transporters. To identify targets of zinc deficiency and mechanisms of zinc acclimation, we used RNA-seq to probe zinc nutrition-responsive changes in gene expression. We identified genes encoding zinc-handling components, including ZIP family transporters and candidate chaperones. Additionally, we noted an impact on two other regulatory pathways, the carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM) and the nutritional copper regulon. Targets of transcription factor Ccm1 and various CAH genes are up-regulated in zinc deficiency, probably due to reduced carbonic anhydrase activity, validated by quantitative proteomics and immunoblot analysis of Cah1, Cah3, and Cah4. Chlamydomonas is therefore not able to grow photoautotrophically in zinc-limiting conditions, but supplementation with 1% CO2 restores growth to wild-type rates, suggesting that the inability to maintain CCM is a major consequence of zinc limitation. The Crr1 regulon responds to copper limitation and is turned on in zinc deficiency, and Crr1 is required for growth in zinc-limiting conditions. Zinc-deficient cells are functionally copper-deficient, although they hyperaccumulate copper up to 50-fold over normal levels. We suggest that zinc-deficient cells sequester copper in a biounavailable form, perhaps to prevent mismetallation of critical zinc sites.

The proteome of copper, iron, zinc, and manganese micronutrient deficiency in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Trace metals such as copper, iron, zinc, and manganese play important roles in several biochemical processes, including respiration and photosynthesis. Using a label-free, quantitative proteomics strategy (MS(E)), we examined the effect of deficiencies in these micronutrients on the soluble proteome of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. We quantified >10(3) proteins with abundances within a dynamic range of 3 to 4 orders of magnitude and demonstrated statistically significant changes in ~200 proteins in each metal-deficient growth condition relative to nutrient-replete media. Through analysis of Pearson's coefficient, we also examined the correlation between protein abundance and transcript abundance (as determined via RNA-Seq analysis) and found moderate correlations under all nutritional states. Interestingly, in a subset of transcripts known to significantly change in abundance in metal-replete and metal-deficient conditions, the correlation to protein abundance is much stronger. Examples of new discoveries highlighted in this work include the accumulation of O(2) labile, anaerobiosis-related enzymes (Hyd1, Pfr1, and Hcp2) in copper-deficient cells; co-variation of Cgl78/Ycf54 and coprogen oxidase; the loss of various stromal and lumenal photosynthesis-related proteins, including plastocyanin, in iron-limited cells; a large accumulation (from undetectable amounts to over 1,000 zmol/cell) of two COG0523 domain-containing proteins in zinc-deficient cells; and the preservation of photosynthesis proteins in manganese-deficient cells despite known losses in photosynthetic function in this condition.

Systems and trans-system level analysis identifies conserved iron deficiency responses in the plant lineage

We surveyed the iron nutrition-responsive transcriptome of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using RNA-Seq methodology. Presumed primary targets were identified in comparisons between visually asymptomatic iron-deficient versus iron-replete cells. This includes the known components of high-affinity iron uptake as well as candidates for distributive iron transport in C. reinhardtii. Comparison of growth-inhibited iron-limited versus iron-replete cells revealed changes in the expression of genes in chloroplastic oxidative stress response pathways, among hundreds of other genes. The output from the transcriptome was validated at multiple levels: by quantitative RT-PCR for assessing the data analysis pipeline, by quantitative proteomics for assessing the impact of changes in RNA abundance on the proteome, and by cross-species comparison for identifying conserved or universal response pathways. In addition, we assessed the functional importance of three target genes, Vitamin C 2 (VTC2), monodehydroascorbate reductase 1 (MDAR1), and conserved in the green lineage and diatoms 27 (CGLD27), by biochemistry or reverse genetics. VTC2 and MDAR1, which are key enzymes in de novo ascorbate synthesis and ascorbate recycling, respectively, are likely responsible for the 10-fold increase in ascorbate content of iron-limited cells. CGLD27/At5g67370 is a highly conserved, presumed chloroplast-localized pioneer protein and is important for growth of Arabidopsis thaliana in low iron.

Systems biology approach in Chlamydomonas reveals connections between copper nutrition and multiple metabolic steps

In this work, we query the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii copper regulon at a whole-genome level. Our RNA-Seq data simulation and analysis pipeline validated a 2-fold cutoff and 10 RPKM (reads per kilobase of mappable length per million mapped reads) (~1 mRNA per cell) to reveal 63 CRR1 targets plus another 86 copper-responsive genes. Proteomic and immunoblot analyses captured 25% of the corresponding proteins, whose abundance was also dependent on copper nutrition, validating transcriptional regulation as a major control mechanism for copper signaling in Chlamydomonas. The impact of copper deficiency on the expression of several O₂-dependent enzymes included steps in lipid modification pathways. Quantitative lipid profiles indicated increased polyunsaturation of fatty acids on thylakoid membrane digalactosyldiglycerides, indicating a global impact of copper deficiency on the photosynthetic apparatus. Discovery of a putative plastid copper chaperone and a membrane protease in the thylakoid suggest a mechanism for blocking copper utilization in the chloroplast. We also found an example of copper sparing in the N assimilation pathway: the replacement of copper amine oxidase by a flavin-dependent backup enzyme. Forty percent of the targets are previously uncharacterized proteins, indicating considerable potential for new discovery in the biology of copper.

Manganous ion supplementation accelerates wild type development, enhances stress resistance, and rescues the life span of a short-lived Caenorhabditis elegans mutant

Relative to iron and copper we know very little about the cellular roles of manganese. Some studies claim that manganese acts as a radical scavenger in unicellular organisms, while there have been other reports that manganese causes Parkinson's disease-like syndrome, DNA fragmentation, and interferes with cellular energy production. The goal of this study was to uncover if manganese has any free radical scavenging properties in the complex multicellular organism, Caenorhabditis elegans. We measured internal manganese in supplemented worms using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) and the data obtained suggest that manganese supplemented to the growth medium is taken up by the worms. We found that manganese did not appear to be toxic as supplementation did not negatively effect development or fertility. In fact, supplementation at higher levels accelerated development and increased total fertility of wild type worms by 16%. Manganese-supplemented wild type worms were found to be thermotolerant and, under certain conditions, long-lived. In addition, the oxidatively challenged C. elegans strain mev-1's short life span was significantly increased after manganese supplementation. Although manganese appears to be beneficial to C. elegans, the mode of action remains unclear. Manganese may work directly as a free radical scavenger, as it has been postulated to do so in unicellular organisms, or may work indirectly by up regulating several protective factors.