Open Access
ARTICLE
Transcriptome Analysis and Physiological Responses of Economic Macroalga Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis under Sulfate Deficiency
Haojie Jia1,2, Hong Du1,2,*, Muhmmad Aslam1,2, Tangcheng Li1,2, Canqi Zheng1,2, Xihui Xie1,2, Nan Huang1,2, Honghao Liang1,2, Pengbing Pei1,2, Ping Li1,2, Weizhou Chen1,2, Xiaojuan Liu1,2
1
Southern Marine Science and Engineering Guangdong Laboratory (Guangzhou), Guangzhou, 511458, China
2
Institute of Marine Sciences, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology and STU-UNIVPM Joint Algal
Research Center, College of Sciences, Shantou University, Shantou, 515063, China
* Corresponding Author: Hong Du. Email:
(This article belongs to this Special Issue: Plant Omics in Challenging Environment)
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany 2023, 92(1), 91-110. https://doi.org/10.32604/phyton.2022.022663
Received 20 March 2022; Accepted 25 April 2022; Issue published 06 September 2022
Abstract
Sulfur is an essential macronutrient for the growth of all photosynthetic organisms and plays important roles in
different metabolic pathways. However, sulfur metabolism and its related research on macroalgae with important
ecological value is rather limited. In this study, marine ecological valued macroalga
Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis
was used to study the general physiological responses and transcriptome profiling under the sulfate deficiency.
The relative growth rate of algae under sulfate deficiency was statistically significantly lower than that of control
after 6 days. However, no significant differences were observed in the pigments content and Fv/Fm value, indicating
that the photosynthesis was not obviously affected under the sulfate deficiency. Furthermore, the significantly
increased soluble protein and carbohydrate contents, and indistinctively differentially expressed sulfate
transporter/permease (ST) and ATP sulfurylase (ATPS) genes suggesting that
G. lemaneiformis cells did not use sulfur from internal protein and carbohydrate pools but utilize stored sulfur from vacuole to satisfy their nutritional
requirements during the sulfate deficiency. Transcriptome data showed that most annotated differentially expressed
genes (DEGs) were down-regulated under the sulfate deficiency, including a large proportion of genes involved in
the pathway of sulfur metabolism. Therefore, it was concluded that the pathway of sulfur metabolism was
suppressed under the sulfate deficiency in
G. lemaneiformis. The results and analysis in this study provide a comprehensive understanding for the physiological and molecular response of
G. lemaneiformis to sulfate deficiency.
Keywords
Cite This Article
Jia, H., Du, H., Aslam, M., Li, T., Zheng, C. et al. (2023). Transcriptome Analysis and Physiological Responses of Economic Macroalga
Gracilariopsis lemaneiformis under Sulfate Deficiency.
Phyton-International Journal of Experimental Botany, 92(1), 91–110.