Studies on Cyanidium caldarium Phycobiliprotein Pigment Mutants

The Unicellular Red Alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae-The Simplest Model of a Photosynthetic Eukaryote

Several species of unicellular eukaryotic algae exhibit relatively simple genomic and cellular architecture. Laboratory cultures of these algae grow faster than plants and often provide homogeneous cellular populations exposed to an almost equal environment. These characteristics are ideal for conducting experiments at the cellular and subcellular levels. Many microalgal lineages have recently become genetically tractable, which have started to evoke new streams of studies. Among such algae, the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae is the simplest organism; it possesses the minimum number of membranous organelles, only 4,775 protein-coding genes in the nucleus, and its cell cycle progression can be highly synchronized with the diel cycle. These properties facilitate diverse omics analyses of cellular proliferation and structural analyses of the intracellular relationship among organelles. C. merolae cells lack a rigid cell wall and are thus relatively easily disrupted, facilitating biochemical analyses. Multiple chromosomal loci can be edited by highly efficient homologous recombination. The procedures for the inducible/repressive expression of a transgene or an endogenous gene in the nucleus and for chloroplast genome modification have also been developed. Here, we summarize the features and experimental techniques of C. merolae and provide examples of studies using this alga. From these studies, it is clear that C. merolae-either alone or in comparative and combinatory studies with other photosynthetic organisms-can provide significant insights into the biology of photosynthetic eukaryotes.

Contrasting ecotoxicity effects of zinc on growth and photosynthesis in a neutrophilic alga (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) and an extremophilic alga (Cyanidium caldarium)

This study aimed to determine the contrasting ecotoxicity effects of zinc on growth and photosynthesis in a neutrophilic (Chlamydomonas reinhardtii) and an extremophilic (Cyanidium caldarium) alga. Experiments were carried out to see if cells acclimated to zinc would respond differently to cells that were unexposed to zinc. The study also aimed to see if extremophiles displayed different acclimation properties to neutrophiles. Results showed that the neutrophilic alga C. reinhardtii, was more susceptible to free zinc and had a lower IC50 value than the extremophile, however its stress response protected the photosynthetic apparatus. Upon acclimation, the photosynthetic abilities of C. reinhardtii were not significantly compromised when exposed to toxic levels of free zinc. On the other hand, C. caldarium had a stress response which allowed it to tolerate significantly higher amounts of free zinc in its environment compared to C. reinhardtii , however the stress response did not protect the photosynthetic apparatus, and upon acclimation C. caldarium was no better equipped to protect its photosynthetic integrity than unexposed cells.

Nucleotide sequence and expression of the genes for the alpha and beta subunits of phycocyanin in Cyanidium caldarium

The nucleotide sequence of the plastid-encoded operon containing genes for the alpha (cpcA) and beta (cpcB) subunits of phycocyanin in the unicellular red alga Cyanidium caldarium is described. cpcB is located 5' to cpcA and the two genes are separated by a 102-bp spacer region. The transcription start site of cpcBA was mapped to 80 bp upstream of the ATG initiation codon of cpcB. Promoter-like elements similar to the -10 (TATAAT) and -35 (TTGACA) consensus promoters in bacteria were found 6 and 31 bp upstream of the transcription initiation site. Northern blotting revealed an abundant 1.3-kb cpcBA transcript in illuminated cells, but this transcript was undetectable in dark-grown cells. Expression levels of cpcBA in cells incubated with 10(-6) M heme in the dark were similar to those in cells illuminated for 24 h. Cells illuminated with 150 microM gabaculine (an inhibitor of delta-aminolevulinate synthesis) or 10 mM levulinic acid (an inhibitor of delta-aminolevulinate dehydrase) lacked detectable cpcBA transcripts. In cells illuminated with 200 microM N-methyl-mesoporphyrin IX (an inhibitor of ferrocheletase), inhibition of cpcBA expression and phycocyanin synthesis was similar. These results provide strong evidence that light induction of the cpcBA operon is dependent on synthesis of heme.