Transcriptional Profile Of An Antarctic Yeast, Rhodotorula Sp. Usm-Psy62, In Response To Temperature Changes
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Date
2015-06
Authors
CHAI WEI SUN, CLEO NICOLE
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Abstract
Rhodotorula sp. USM-PSY62 is a psychrophilic yeast that is competent in withstanding and surviving in extreme cold environment. It is a good model organism to study the intrinsic molecular mechanisms that are involved in cold adaptation. In this study, a robust RNA-seq approach was employed to study the global transcriptomic response of Rhodotorula sp. USM-PSY62 upon temperature shifts. The cells were initially cultured at optimum growth temperature of 15 °C and subsequently shifted to 21 °C, 5 °C and 0 °C in order to induce the cold and heat adaptive responses of cells toward heat and cold shock conditions, respectively. The cells were then harvested from the four growth temperatures and subjected to RNA-seq analysis using Illumina platform. The resultant RNA reads were de novo assembled using Trinity and the differential expression analysis were executed. A total of 286 transcripts were found to be differentially expressed for at least four-fold when a pair wise comparison amongst four temperature conditions was performed. A number of 72 out of 286 transcripts have been functionally annotated and divided into three main functional groups based on the eggNOG orthologous groups: 38 transcripts (metabolism); 17 transcripts (cellular processes and signalling); 17 transcripts (information storage and processing). As deduced from the transcriptional alterations, cold shock responses of Rhodotorula sp. USM-PSY62 include enhanced cell motility, overproduction of helicase to reduce the increased stability of DNA and RNA, risen of ion intake as well as activation of a cold related signal transduction mechanism. Besides, transcripts associated with membrane trafficking and chromosome organization were also down-regulated as a response to the cold. Heat shock response was observed with the up-regulation of heat shock factor protein 1 when the growth temperature increased. Rhodotorula sp. USM-PSY62 has developed wide-
ranging and distinctive adaptive mechanisms to protect its cells from damage and to survive under thermal stresses.
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Transcriptional Profile Of An Antarctic Yeast, Rhodotorula Sp. Usm-Psy62 , In Response To Temperature Changes