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Transcriptional analysis of cell growth and morphogenesis in the unicellular green alga Micrasterias (Streptophyta), with emphasis on the role of expansin
- Source :
- BMC Plant Biology, BMC Plant Biology, Vol 11, Iss 1, p 128 (2011), BMC PLANT BIOLOGY
- Publisher :
- Springer Nature
-
Abstract
- Background Streptophyte green algae share several characteristics of cell growth and cell wall formation with their relatives, the embryophytic land plants. The multilobed cell wall of Micrasterias denticulata that rebuilds symmetrically after cell division and consists of pectin and cellulose, makes this unicellular streptophyte alga an interesting model system to study the molecular controls on cell shape and cell wall formation in green plants. Results Genome-wide transcript expression profiling of synchronously growing cells identified 107 genes of which the expression correlated with the growth phase. Four transcripts showed high similarity to expansins that had not been examined previously in green algae. Phylogenetic analysis suggests that these genes are most closely related to the plant EXPANSIN A family, although their domain organization is very divergent. A GFP-tagged version of the expansin-resembling protein MdEXP2 localized to the cell wall and in Golgi-derived vesicles. Overexpression phenotypes ranged from lobe elongation to loss of growth polarity and planarity. These results indicate that MdEXP2 can alter the cell wall structure and, thus, might have a function related to that of land plant expansins during cell morphogenesis. Conclusions Our study demonstrates the potential of M. denticulata as a unicellular model system, in which cell growth mechanisms have been discovered similar to those in land plants. Additionally, evidence is provided that the evolutionary origins of many cell wall components and regulatory genes in embryophytes precede the colonization of land.
- Subjects :
- Cell division
Molecular Sequence Data
Morphogenesis
Plant Science
CDNA-AFLP
Cell wall
Expansin
Cell growth
Cell Wall
lcsh:Botany
Botany
LAND PLANTS
Amino Acid Sequence
Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism Analysis
Micrasterias
Phylogeny
GENE-EXPRESSION
Plant Proteins
biology
Cell morphogenesis
Streptophyta
Gene Expression Profiling
Biology and Life Sciences
GENOME-WIDE EXPRESSION
Sequence Analysis, DNA
EVOLUTIONARY ORIGIN
biology.organism_classification
Cell biology
lcsh:QK1-989
CHLOROPLAST GENOME
RNA, Plant
SIGNAL PEPTIDES
WALLS
ARABIDOPSIS-THALIANA
CELLULOSE SYNTHASE
Research Article
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 14712229
- Volume :
- 11
- Issue :
- 1
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- BMC Plant Biology
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....ac73304ba2d90455494336de0f6e8076
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2229-11-128