Possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the colonization of sea ice by algae.
Diatoms and other algae not only survive, but thrive in sea ice. Among sea ice diatoms, all species examined so far produce ice-binding proteins (IBPs), whereas no such proteins are found in non-ice-associated diatoms, which strongly suggests that IBPs are essential for survival in ice. The restrict...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:91c4132863674eccaa9e3794daa6c8cf 2023-05-15T13:37:07+02:00 Possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the colonization of sea ice by algae. James A Raymond Hak Jun Kim 2012-01-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035968 https://doaj.org/article/91c4132863674eccaa9e3794daa6c8cf EN eng Public Library of Science (PLoS) https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22567121/pdf/?tool=EBI https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035968 https://doaj.org/article/91c4132863674eccaa9e3794daa6c8cf PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 5, p e35968 (2012) Medicine R Science Q article 2012 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035968 2022-12-31T07:26:08Z Diatoms and other algae not only survive, but thrive in sea ice. Among sea ice diatoms, all species examined so far produce ice-binding proteins (IBPs), whereas no such proteins are found in non-ice-associated diatoms, which strongly suggests that IBPs are essential for survival in ice. The restricted occurrence also raises the question of how the IBP genes were acquired. Proteins with similar sequences and ice-binding activities are produced by ice-associated bacteria, and so it has previously been speculated that the genes were acquired by horizontal transfer (HGT) from bacteria. Here we report several new IBP sequences from three types of ice algae, which together with previously determined sequences reveal a phylogeny that is completely incongruent with algal phylogeny, and that can be most easily explained by HGT. HGT is also supported by the finding that the closest matches to the algal IBP genes are all bacterial genes and that the algal IBP genes lack introns. We also describe a highly freeze-tolerant bacterium from the bottom layer of Antarctic sea ice that produces an IBP with 47% amino acid identity to a diatom IBP from the same layer, demonstrating at least an opportunity for gene transfer. Together, these results suggest that the success of diatoms and other algae in sea ice can be at least partly attributed to their acquisition of prokaryotic IBP genes. Article in Journal/Newspaper Antarc* Antarctic ice algae Sea ice Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Antarctic PLoS ONE 7 5 e35968 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
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English |
topic |
Medicine R Science Q |
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Medicine R Science Q James A Raymond Hak Jun Kim Possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the colonization of sea ice by algae. |
topic_facet |
Medicine R Science Q |
description |
Diatoms and other algae not only survive, but thrive in sea ice. Among sea ice diatoms, all species examined so far produce ice-binding proteins (IBPs), whereas no such proteins are found in non-ice-associated diatoms, which strongly suggests that IBPs are essential for survival in ice. The restricted occurrence also raises the question of how the IBP genes were acquired. Proteins with similar sequences and ice-binding activities are produced by ice-associated bacteria, and so it has previously been speculated that the genes were acquired by horizontal transfer (HGT) from bacteria. Here we report several new IBP sequences from three types of ice algae, which together with previously determined sequences reveal a phylogeny that is completely incongruent with algal phylogeny, and that can be most easily explained by HGT. HGT is also supported by the finding that the closest matches to the algal IBP genes are all bacterial genes and that the algal IBP genes lack introns. We also describe a highly freeze-tolerant bacterium from the bottom layer of Antarctic sea ice that produces an IBP with 47% amino acid identity to a diatom IBP from the same layer, demonstrating at least an opportunity for gene transfer. Together, these results suggest that the success of diatoms and other algae in sea ice can be at least partly attributed to their acquisition of prokaryotic IBP genes. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
James A Raymond Hak Jun Kim |
author_facet |
James A Raymond Hak Jun Kim |
author_sort |
James A Raymond |
title |
Possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the colonization of sea ice by algae. |
title_short |
Possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the colonization of sea ice by algae. |
title_full |
Possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the colonization of sea ice by algae. |
title_fullStr |
Possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the colonization of sea ice by algae. |
title_full_unstemmed |
Possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the colonization of sea ice by algae. |
title_sort |
possible role of horizontal gene transfer in the colonization of sea ice by algae. |
publisher |
Public Library of Science (PLoS) |
publishDate |
2012 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035968 https://doaj.org/article/91c4132863674eccaa9e3794daa6c8cf |
geographic |
Antarctic |
geographic_facet |
Antarctic |
genre |
Antarc* Antarctic ice algae Sea ice |
genre_facet |
Antarc* Antarctic ice algae Sea ice |
op_source |
PLoS ONE, Vol 7, Iss 5, p e35968 (2012) |
op_relation |
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/pmid/22567121/pdf/?tool=EBI https://doaj.org/toc/1932-6203 1932-6203 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035968 https://doaj.org/article/91c4132863674eccaa9e3794daa6c8cf |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0035968 |
container_title |
PLoS ONE |
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7 |
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5 |
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e35968 |
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1766088175408644096 |