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Responses of the Emiliania huxleyi proteome to ocean acidification

Responses of the Emiliania huxleyi proteome to ocean acidification
Responses of the Emiliania huxleyi proteome to ocean acidification
Ocean acidification due to rising atmospheric CO2 is expected to affect the physiology of important calcifying marine organisms, but the nature and magnitude of change is yet to be established. In coccolithophores, different species and strains display varying calcification responses to ocean acidification, but the underlying biochemical properties remain unknown. We employed an approach combining tandem mass-spectrometry with isobaric tagging (iTRAQ) and multiple database searching to identify proteins that were differentially expressed in cells of the marine coccolithophore species Emiliania huxleyi (strain NZEH) between two CO2 conditions: 395 (~current day) and ~1340 p.p.m.v. CO2. Cells exposed to the higher CO2 condition contained more cellular particulate inorganic carbon (CaCO3) and particulate organic nitrogen and carbon than those maintained in present-day conditions. These results are linked with the observation that cells grew slower under elevated CO2, indicating cell cycle disruption. Under high CO2 conditions, coccospheres were larger and cells possessed bigger coccoliths that did not show any signs of malformation compared to those from cells grown under present-day CO2 levels. No differences in calcification rate, particulate organic carbon production or cellular organic carbon: nitrogen ratios were observed. Results were not related to nutrient limitation or acclimation status of cells. At least 46 homologous protein groups from a variety of functional processes were quantified in these experiments, of which four (histones H2A, H3, H4 and a chloroplastic 30S ribosomal protein S7) showed down-regulation in all replicates exposed to high CO2, perhaps reflecting the decrease in growth rate. We present evidence of cellular stress responses but proteins associated with many key metabolic processes remained unaltered. Our results therefore suggest that this E. huxleyi strain possesses some acclimation mechanisms to tolerate future CO2 scenarios, although the observed decline in growth rate may be an overriding factor affecting the success of this ecotype in future oceans.
1932-6203
e61868
Jones, Bethan M.
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Iglesias-Rodriguez, M. Debora
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Skipp, Paul J.
1ba7dcf6-9fe7-4b5c-a9d0-e32ed7f42aa5
Edwards, Richard J.
9d25e74f-dc0d-455a-832c-5f363d864c43
Greaves, Mervyn J.
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Young, Jeremy R.
18d63549-d248-4012-91b1-64382581ef53
Elderfield, Henry
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O'Connor, C. David
17ff63ee-30d8-44c5-84b5-775d51e45d46
Jones, Bethan M.
2a40cabe-e5ee-4454-8aab-585c3af9fa70
Iglesias-Rodriguez, M. Debora
6afa55be-e2f8-416f-80e3-3550e42c2079
Skipp, Paul J.
1ba7dcf6-9fe7-4b5c-a9d0-e32ed7f42aa5
Edwards, Richard J.
9d25e74f-dc0d-455a-832c-5f363d864c43
Greaves, Mervyn J.
6ec09b42-f35f-49c8-a59a-0062c14400a2
Young, Jeremy R.
18d63549-d248-4012-91b1-64382581ef53
Elderfield, Henry
f16b0e78-6878-4cf8-8e48-a449f9b84879
O'Connor, C. David
17ff63ee-30d8-44c5-84b5-775d51e45d46

Jones, Bethan M., Iglesias-Rodriguez, M. Debora, Skipp, Paul J., Edwards, Richard J., Greaves, Mervyn J., Young, Jeremy R., Elderfield, Henry and O'Connor, C. David (2013) Responses of the Emiliania huxleyi proteome to ocean acidification. PLoS ONE, 8 (4), e61868. (doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0061868).

Record type: Article

Abstract

Ocean acidification due to rising atmospheric CO2 is expected to affect the physiology of important calcifying marine organisms, but the nature and magnitude of change is yet to be established. In coccolithophores, different species and strains display varying calcification responses to ocean acidification, but the underlying biochemical properties remain unknown. We employed an approach combining tandem mass-spectrometry with isobaric tagging (iTRAQ) and multiple database searching to identify proteins that were differentially expressed in cells of the marine coccolithophore species Emiliania huxleyi (strain NZEH) between two CO2 conditions: 395 (~current day) and ~1340 p.p.m.v. CO2. Cells exposed to the higher CO2 condition contained more cellular particulate inorganic carbon (CaCO3) and particulate organic nitrogen and carbon than those maintained in present-day conditions. These results are linked with the observation that cells grew slower under elevated CO2, indicating cell cycle disruption. Under high CO2 conditions, coccospheres were larger and cells possessed bigger coccoliths that did not show any signs of malformation compared to those from cells grown under present-day CO2 levels. No differences in calcification rate, particulate organic carbon production or cellular organic carbon: nitrogen ratios were observed. Results were not related to nutrient limitation or acclimation status of cells. At least 46 homologous protein groups from a variety of functional processes were quantified in these experiments, of which four (histones H2A, H3, H4 and a chloroplastic 30S ribosomal protein S7) showed down-regulation in all replicates exposed to high CO2, perhaps reflecting the decrease in growth rate. We present evidence of cellular stress responses but proteins associated with many key metabolic processes remained unaltered. Our results therefore suggest that this E. huxleyi strain possesses some acclimation mechanisms to tolerate future CO2 scenarios, although the observed decline in growth rate may be an overriding factor affecting the success of this ecotype in future oceans.

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Published date: 12 April 2013
Organisations: Ocean and Earth Science, Centre for Biological Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 371930
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/371930
ISSN: 1932-6203
PURE UUID: e31dba6d-b391-4dbb-980f-462bcc29b5ed
ORCID for Paul J. Skipp: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-2995-2959

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Date deposited: 19 Nov 2014 11:57
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 02:43

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Contributors

Author: Bethan M. Jones
Author: M. Debora Iglesias-Rodriguez
Author: Paul J. Skipp ORCID iD
Author: Richard J. Edwards
Author: Mervyn J. Greaves
Author: Jeremy R. Young
Author: Henry Elderfield
Author: C. David O'Connor

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