Homeodomain-like DNA binding proteins control the haploid-to-diploid transition in Dictyostelium

Modes and mechanisms for the inheritance of mitochondria and plastids in pathogenic protists

Pathogenic protists are responsible for many diseases that significantly impact human and animal health across the globe. Almost all protists possess mitochondria or mitochondrion-related organelles, and many contain plastids. These endosymbiotic organelles are crucial to survival and provide well-validated and widely utilised drug targets in parasitic protists such as Plasmodium and Toxoplasma. However, mutations within the organellar genomes of mitochondria and plastids can lead to drug resistance. Such mutations ultimately challenge our ability to control and eradicate the diseases caused by these pathogenic protists. Therefore, it is important to understand how organellar genomes, and the resistance mutations encoded within them, are inherited during protist sexual reproduction and how this may impact the spread of drug resistance and future therapeutic approaches to target these organelles. In this review, we detail what is known about mitochondrial and plastid inheritance during sexual reproduction across different pathogenic protists, often turning to their better studied, nonpathogenic relatives for insight.

Conserved and non-conserved RNA-target modules in plants: lessons for a better understanding of Marchantia development

A wide variety of functional regulatory non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) have been identified as essential regulators of plant growth and development. Depending on their category, ncRNAs are not only involved in modulating target gene expression at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels but also are involved in processes like RNA splicing and RNA-directed DNA methylation. To fulfill their molecular roles properly, ncRNAs must be precisely processed by multiprotein complexes. In the case of small RNAs, DICER-LIKE (DCL) proteins play critical roles in the production of mature molecules. Land plant genomes contain at least four distinct classes of DCL family proteins (DCL1-DCL4), of which DCL1, DCL3 and DCL4 are also present in the genomes of bryophytes, indicating the early divergence of these genes. The liverwort Marchantia polymorpha has become an attractive model species for investigating the evolutionary history of regulatory ncRNAs and proteins that are responsible for ncRNA biogenesis. Recent studies on Marchantia have started to uncover the similarities and differences in ncRNA production and function between the basal lineage of bryophytes and other land plants. In this review, we summarize findings on the essential role of regulatory ncRNAs in Marchantia development. We provide a comprehensive overview of conserved ncRNA-target modules among M. polymorpha, the moss Physcomitrium patens and the dicot Arabidopsis thaliana, as well as Marchantia-specific modules. Based on functional studies and data from the literature, we propose new connections between regulatory pathways involved in Marchantia's vegetative and reproductive development and emphasize the need for further functional studies to understand the molecular mechanisms that control ncRNA-directed developmental processes.

Three-amino acid loop extension homeodomain proteins regulate stress responses and encystation in Entamoeba

It is interesting to identify factors involved in the regulation of the encystation of Entamoeba histolytica that differentiate trophozoites into cysts. Evolutionarily conserved three amino acid loop extension (TALE) homeodomain proteins act as transcription factors and execute a variety of functions that are essential for life. A TALE homeodomain (EhHbox) protein-encoding gene has been identified in E. histolytica (Eh) that is highly upregulated during heat shock, glucose, and serum starvation. Its ortholog, EiHbox1, a putative homeobox protein in E. invadens (Ei), is also highly upregulated during the early hours of encystation, glucose starvation, and heat shock. They belong to the PBX family of TALE homeobox proteins and have conserved residues in the homeodomain that are essential for DNA binding. Both are localized in the nucleus during encystation and under different stress conditions. The electrophoretic mobility shift assay confirmed that the recombinant GST-EhHbox binds to the reported TGACAG and TGATTGAT motifs. Down-regulation of EiHbox1 by gene silencing reduced Chitin synthase, Jacob, and increased Jessie gene expression, resulting in defective cysts and decreased encystation efficiency and viability. Overall, our results suggest that the TALE homeobox family has been conserved during evolution and acts as a transcription factor to control the differentiation of Entamoeba by regulating the key encystation-induced genes.

The transcriptional regulator HDP1 controls expansion of the inner membrane complex during early sexual differentiation of malaria parasites

Transmission of Plasmodium falciparum and other malaria parasites requires their differentiation from asexual blood stages into gametocytes, the non-replicative sexual stage necessary to infect the mosquito vector. This transition involves changes in gene expression and chromatin reorganization that result in the activation and silencing of stage-specific genes. However, the genomes of malaria parasites have been noted for their limited number of transcriptional and chromatin regulators, and the molecular mediators of these changes remain largely unknown. We recently identified homeodomain protein 1 (HDP1) as a DNA-binding protein, first expressed in gametocytes, that enhances the expression of key genes critical for early sexual differentiation. The discovery of HDP1 marks a new class of transcriptional regulator in malaria parasites outside of the better-characterized ApiAP2 family. Here, using molecular biology, biochemistry and microscopy techniques, we show that HDP1 is essential for gametocyte maturation, facilitating the necessary upregulation of inner membrane complex components during early gametocytogenesis that gives P. falciparum gametocytes their characteristic shape.

Gamete expression of TALE class HD genes activates the diploid sporophyte program in Marchantia polymorpha

Eukaryotic life cycles alternate between haploid and diploid phases and in phylogenetically diverse unicellular eukaryotes, expression of paralogous homeodomain genes in gametes primes the haploid-to-diploid transition. In the unicellular chlorophyte alga Chlamydomonas, KNOX and BELL TALE-homeodomain genes mediate this transition. We demonstrate that in the liverwort Marchantia polymorpha, paternal (sperm) expression of three of five phylogenetically diverse BELL genes, MpBELL234, and maternal (egg) expression of both MpKNOX1 and MpBELL34 mediate the haploid-to-diploid transition. Loss-of-function alleles of MpKNOX1 result in zygotic arrest, whereas a loss of either maternal or paternal MpBELL234 results in variable zygotic and early embryonic arrest. Expression of MpKNOX1 and MpBELL34 during diploid sporophyte development is consistent with a later role for these genes in patterning the sporophyte. These results indicate that the ancestral mechanism to activate diploid gene expression was retained in early diverging land plants and subsequently co-opted during evolution of the diploid sporophyte body.

Brown Algal Model Organisms

Model organisms are extensively used in research as accessible and convenient systems for studying a particular area or question in biology. Traditionally, only a limited number of organisms have been studied in detail, but modern genomic tools are enabling researchers to extend beyond the set of classical model organisms to include novel species from less-studied phylogenetic groups. This review focuses on model species for an important group of multicellular organisms, the brown algae. The development of genetic and genomic tools for the filamentous brown alga Ectocarpus has led to it emerging as a general model system for this group, but additional models, such as Fucus or Dictyota dichotoma, remain of interest for specific biological questions. In addition, Saccharina japonica has emerged as a model system to directly address applied questions related to algal aquaculture. We discuss the past, present, and future of brown algal model organisms in relation to the opportunities and challenges in brown algal research.

The molecular foundations of zygosis

Zygosis is the generation of new biological individuals by the sexual fusion of gamete cells. Our current understanding of eukaryotic phylogeny indicates that sex is ancestral to all extant eukaryotes. Although sexual development is extremely diverse, common molecular elements have been retained. HAP2-GCS1, a protein that promotes the fusion of gamete cell membranes that is related in structure to certain viral fusogens, is conserved in many eukaryotic lineages, even though gametes vary considerably in form and behaviour between species. Similarly, although zygotes have dramatically different forms and fates in different organisms, diverse eukaryotes share a common developmental programme in which homeodomain-containing transcription factors play a central role. These common mechanistic elements suggest possible common evolutionary histories that, if correct, would have profound implications for our understanding of eukaryogenesis.

Origin and evolution of eukaryotic transcription factors

Transcription factors (TFs) have a central role in genome regulation directing gene transcription through binding specific DNA sequences. Eukaryotic genomes encode a large diversity of TF classes, each defined by unique DNA-interaction domains. Recent advances in genome sequencing and phylogenetic placement of diverse eukaryotic and archaeal species are re-defining the evolutionary history of eukaryotic TFs. The emerging view from a comparative genomics perspective is that the Last Eukaryotic Common Ancestor (LECA) had an extensive repertoire of TFs, most of which represent eukaryotic evolutionary novelties. This burst of TF innovation coincides with the emergence of genomic nuclear segregation and complex chromatin organization.

Two potential evolutionary origins of the fruiting bodies of the dictyostelid slime moulds

Dictyostelium discoideum and the other dictyostelid slime moulds ('social amoebae') are popular model organisms best known for their demonstration of sorocarpic development. In this process, many cells aggregate to form a multicellular unit that ultimately becomes a fruiting body bearing asexual spores. Several other unrelated microorganisms undergo comparable processes, and in some it is evident that their multicellular development evolved from the differentiation process of encystation. While it has been argued that the dictyostelid fruiting body had similar origins, it has also been proposed that dictyostelid sorocarpy evolved from the unicellular fruiting process found in other amoebozoan slime moulds. This paper reviews the developmental biology of the dictyostelids and other relevant organisms and reassesses the two hypotheses on the evolutionary origins of dictyostelid development. Recent advances in phylogeny, genetics, and genomics and transcriptomics indicate that further research is necessary to determine whether or not the fruiting bodies of the dictyostelids and their closest relatives, the myxomycetes and protosporangids, are homologous.

Triparental inheritance in Dictyostelium

Sex promotes the recombination and reassortment of genetic material and is prevalent across eukaryotes, although our knowledge of the molecular details of sexual inheritance is scant in several major lineages. In social amoebae, sex involves a promiscuous mixing of cytoplasm before zygotes consume the majority of cells, but for technical reasons, sexual progeny have been difficult to obtain and study. We report here genome-wide characterization of meiotic progeny in Dictyostelium discoideum We find that recombination occurs at high frequency in pairwise crosses between all three mating types, despite the absence of the Spo11 enzyme that is normally required to initiate crossover formation. Fusions of more than two gametes to form transient syncytia lead to frequent triparental inheritance, with haploid meiotic progeny bearing recombined nuclear haplotypes from two parents and the mitochondrial genome from a third. Cells that do not contribute genetically to the Dictyostelium zygote nucleus thereby have a stake in the next haploid generation. D. discoideum mitochondrial genomes are polymorphic, and our findings raise the possibility that some of this variation might be a result of sexual selection on genes that can promote the spread of individual organelle genomes during sex. This kind of self-interested mitochondrial behavior may have had important consequences during eukaryogenesis and the initial evolution of sex.

Convergent recruitment of TALE homeodomain life cycle regulators to direct sporophyte development in land plants and brown algae

Three amino acid loop extension homeodomain transcription factors (TALE HD TFs) act as life cycle regulators in green algae and land plants. In mosses these regulators are required for the deployment of the sporophyte developmental program. We demonstrate that mutations in either of two TALE HD TF genes, OUROBOROS or SAMSARA, in the brown alga Ectocarpus result in conversion of the sporophyte generation into a gametophyte. The OUROBOROS and SAMSARA proteins heterodimerise in a similar manner to TALE HD TF life cycle regulators in the green lineage. These observations demonstrate that TALE-HD-TF-based life cycle regulation systems have an extremely ancient origin, and that these systems have been independently recruited to regulate sporophyte developmental programs in at least two different complex multicellular eukaryotic supergroups, Archaeplastida and Chromalveolata.

Common ancestry of heterodimerizing TALE homeobox transcription factors across Metazoa and Archaeplastida

Background

Complex multicellularity requires elaborate developmental mechanisms, often based on the versatility of heterodimeric transcription factor (TF) interactions. Homeobox TFs in the TALE superclass are deeply embedded in the gene regulatory networks that orchestrate embryogenesis. Knotted-like homeobox (KNOX) TFs, homologous to animal MEIS, have been found to drive the haploid-to-diploid transition in both unicellular green algae and land plants via heterodimerization with other TALE superclass TFs, demonstrating remarkable functional conservation of a developmental TF across lineages that diverged one billion years ago. Here, we sought to delineate whether TALE-TALE heterodimerization is ancestral to eukaryotes.

Results

We analyzed TALE endowment in the algal radiations of Archaeplastida, ancestral to land plants. Homeodomain phylogeny and bioinformatics analysis partitioned TALEs into two broad groups, KNOX and non-KNOX. Each group shares previously defined heterodimerization domains, plant KNOX-homology in the KNOX group and animal PBC-homology in the non-KNOX group, indicating their deep ancestry. Protein-protein interaction experiments showed that the TALEs in the two groups all participated in heterodimerization.

Conclusions

Our study indicates that the TF dyads consisting of KNOX/MEIS and PBC-containing TALEs must have evolved early in eukaryotic evolution. Based on our results, we hypothesize that in early eukaryotes, the TALE heterodimeric configuration provided transcription-on switches via dimerization-dependent subcellular localization, ensuring execution of the haploid-to-diploid transition only when the gamete fusion is correctly executed between appropriate partner gametes. The TALE switch then diversified in the several lineages that engage in a complex multicellular organization.

Electronic supplementary material

The online version of this article (10.1186/s12915-018-0605-5) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

Rapid and efficient genetic engineering of both wild type and axenic strains of Dictyostelium discoideum

Dictyostelium has a mature technology for molecular-genetic manipulation based around transfection using several different selectable markers, marker re-cycling, homologous recombination and insertional mutagenesis, all supported by a well-annotated genome. However this technology is optimized for mutant, axenic cells that, unlike non-axenic wild type, can grow in liquid medium. There is a pressing need for methods to manipulate wild type cells and ones with defects in macropinocytosis, neither of which can grow in liquid media. Here we present a panel of molecular genetic techniques based on the selection of Dictyostelium transfectants by growth on bacteria rather than liquid media. As well as extending the range of strains that can be manipulated, these techniques are faster than conventional methods, often giving usable numbers of transfected cells within a few days. The methods and plasmids described here allow efficient transfection with extrachromosomal vectors, as well as chromosomal integration at a 'safe haven' for relatively uniform cell-to-cell expression, efficient gene knock-in and knock-out and an inducible expression system. We have thus created a complete new system for the genetic manipulation of Dictyostelium cells that no longer requires cell feeding on liquid media.