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Title: Alternatives to vitamin B1 uptake revealed with discovery of riboswitches in multiple marine eukaryotic lineages

Journal Article · · The ISME Journal
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6];  [7]
  1. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA (United States); Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, California (United States)
  2. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA (United States)
  3. University of East Anglia, Norwich (United Kingdom)
  4. Dalhousie Univ., Halifas, NS (Canada); Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON (Canada)
  5. Texas A & M Univ., College Station, TX (United States)
  6. Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON (Canada); Univ. of New Brunswick, Fredericton, NB (Canada)
  7. Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA (United States); Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, Toronto, ON (Canada)

Here, vitamin B1 (thiamine pyrophosphate, TPP) is essential to all life but scarce in ocean surface waters. In many bacteria and a few eukaryotic groups thiamine biosynthesis genes are controlled by metabolite-sensing mRNA-based gene regulators known as riboswitches. Using available genome sequences and transcriptomes generated from ecologically important marine phytoplankton, we identified 31 new eukaryotic riboswitches. These were found in alveolate, cryptophyte, haptophyte and rhizarian phytoplankton as well as taxa from two lineages previously known to have riboswitches (green algae and stramenopiles). The predicted secondary structures bear hallmarks of TPP-sensing riboswitches. Surprisingly, most of the identified riboswitches are affiliated with genes of unknown function, rather than characterized thiamine biosynthesis genes. Using qPCR and growth experiments involving two prasinophyte algae, we show that expression of these genes increases significantly under vitamin B1-deplete conditions relative to controls. Pathway analyses show that several algae harboring the uncharacterized genes lack one or more enzymes in the known TPP biosynthesis pathway. We demonstrate that one such alga, the major primary producer Emiliania huxleyi, grows on 4-amino-5-hydroxymethyl-2-methylpyrimidine (a thiamine precursor moiety) alone, although long thought dependent on exogenous sources of thiamine. Thus, overall, we have identified riboswitches in major eukaryotic lineages not known to undergo this form of gene regulation. In these phytoplankton groups, riboswitches are often affiliated with widespread thiamine-responsive genes with as yet uncertain roles in TPP pathways. Further, taxa with ‘incomplete’ TPP biosynthesis pathways do not necessarily require exogenous vitamin B1, making vitamin control of phytoplankton blooms more complex than the current paradigm suggests.

Research Organization:
Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute, Moss Landing, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0004765
OSTI ID:
1455183
Journal Information:
The ISME Journal, Journal Name: The ISME Journal Journal Issue: 12 Vol. 8; ISSN 1751-7362
Publisher:
Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (27)

Use of plankton-derived vitamin B1 precursors, especially thiazole-related precursor, by key marine picoeukaryotic phytoplankton journal December 2016
Phylogenomic and comparative analysis of the distribution and regulatory patterns of TPP riboswitches in fungi journal April 2018
Intron Invasions Trace Algal Speciation and Reveal Nearly Identical Arctic and Antarctic Micromonas Populations journal May 2015
Globally Important Haptophyte Algae Use Exogenous Pyrimidine Compounds More Efficiently than Thiamin journal November 2017
Evidence-based green algal genomics reveals marine diversity and ancestral characteristics of land plants journal March 2016
A promising approach to enhance microalgae productivity by exogenous supply of vitamins journal November 2017
Evidence for Strain-Specific Exometabolomic Responses of the Coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi to Grazing by the Dinoflagellate Oxyrrhis marina journal January 2016
Vitamin B1 in marine sediments: pore water concentration gradient drives benthic flux with potential biological implications journal May 2015
B Vitamins and Their Congeners as Potential Drivers of Microbial Community Composition in an Oligotrophic Marine Ecosystem journal September 2018
Cross-exchange of B-vitamins underpins a mutualistic interaction between Ostreococcus tauri and Dinoroseobacter shibae journal September 2018
Phylogenomic and comparative analysis of the distribution and regulatory patterns of TPP riboswitches in fungi journal April 2018
How haptophytes microalgae mitigate vitamin B12 limitation journal June 2019
Modeling vitamin B1 transfer to consumers in the aquatic food web journal July 2019
Mosaic Patterns of B-vitamin Synthesis and Utilization in a Natural Marine Microbial Community journal January 2018
Mosaic patterns of B-vitamin synthesis and utilization in a natural marine microbial community: B-vitamin mosaics journal May 2018
Transcriptomic and proteomic responses of the oceanic diatom Pseudo-nitzschia granii to iron limitation journal August 2018
Metabolic relationships of uncultured bacteria associated with the microalgae Gambierdiscus journal December 2019
How mutualisms arise in phytoplankton communities: building eco-evolutionary principles for aquatic microbes journal June 2016
Metabolic Model of the Phytophthora infestans -Tomato Interaction Reveals Metabolic Switches during Host Colonization journal July 2019
Evidence-based green algal genomics reveals marine diversity and ancestral characteristics of land plants journal March 2016
A promising approach to enhance microalgae productivity by exogenous supply of vitamins journal November 2017
TPP riboswitch-dependent regulation of an ancient thiamin transporter in Candida journal May 2018
Deficiency syndromes in top predators associated with large-scale changes in the Baltic Sea ecosystem journal January 2020
Cross-exchange of B-vitamins underpins a mutualistic interaction between Ostreococcus tauri and Dinoroseobacter shibae. text January 2019
Essential Biomolecules in Food Webs journal July 2019
The Exometabolome of Two Model Strains of the Roseobacter Group: A Marketplace of Microbial Metabolites journal October 2017
Metabolism of Dietary and Microbial Vitamin B Family in the Regulation of Host Immunity journal April 2019

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