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Helena Filipsson, foto Erik Thor

Helena Filipsson

Professor

Helena Filipsson, foto Erik Thor

Two canonically aerobic foraminifera express distinct peroxisomal and mitochondrial metabolisms

Author

  • Christopher Powers
  • Fatma Gomaa
  • Elizabeth B. Billings
  • Daniel R. Utter
  • David J. Beaudoin
  • Virginia P. Edgcomb
  • Colleen M. Hansel
  • Scott D. Wankel
  • Helena L. Filipsson
  • Ying Zhang
  • Joan M. Bernhard
Show all

Summary, in English

Certain benthic foraminifera thrive in marine sediments with low or undetectable oxygen. Potential survival avenues used by these supposedly aerobic protists include fermentation and anaerobic respiration, although details on their adaptive mechanisms remain elusive. To better understand the metabolic versatility of foraminifera, we studied two benthic species that thrive in oxygen-depleted marine sediments. Here we detail, via transcriptomics and metatranscriptomics, differential gene expression of Nonionella stella and Bolivina argentea, collected from Santa Barbara Basin, California, USA, in response to varied oxygenation and chemical amendments. Organelle-specific metabolic reconstructions revealed these two species utilize adaptable mitochondrial and peroxisomal metabolism. N. stella, most abundant in anoxia and characterized by lack of food vacuoles and abundance of intracellular lipid droplets, was predicted to couple the putative peroxisomal beta-oxidation and glyoxylate cycle with a versatile electron transport system and a partial TCA cycle. In contrast, B. argentea, most abundant in hypoxia and contains food vacuoles, was predicted to utilize the putative peroxisomal gluconeogenesis and a full TCA cycle but lacks the expression of key beta-oxidation and glyoxylate cycle genes. These metabolic adaptations likely confer ecological success while encountering deoxygenation and expand our understanding of metabolic modifications and interactions between mitochondria and peroxisomes in protists.

Department/s

  • Quaternary Sciences

Publishing year

2022-12-02

Language

English

Publication/Series

Frontiers in Marine Science

Volume

9

Document type

Journal article

Publisher

Frontiers Media S. A.

Topic

  • Cell Biology
  • Microbiology
  • Ecology
  • Environmental Sciences

Keywords

  • anoxia
  • benthic foraminifera
  • chemocline
  • mitochondria
  • peroxisomes
  • protists
  • Santa Barbara Basin

Status

Published

ISBN/ISSN/Other

  • ISSN: 2296-7745