Thermal tolerance and cellular plasticity in marine phytoplankton diatoms modulated by epigenetic mechanisms for environmental adaptation

Thermal tolerance and cellular plasticity in marine phytoplankton diatoms modulated by epigenetic mechanisms for environmental adaptation | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Article Thermal tolerance and cellular plasticity in marine phytoplankton diatoms modulated by epigenetic mechanisms for environmental adaptation Dawei Li, Hong-Ye Li, Dan Huang, Cai-Qin Cheng, Zhang Yun, Yun Huang, and 8 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-3919469/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Published Journal Publication published 10 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Diatoms are a crucial component of marine ecosystems, known for their broad environmental adaptability and wide temperature tolerance. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their adaptability to diverse temperatures are unknown. In this study, we discovered that heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) are potentially important for thermal tolerance in diatoms. Our study focused on PtHSF2, which was annotated as HSF2 in Phaeodactylum tricornutum’s genome and was ubiquitous in diatoms. Overexpression of PtHSF2 markedly enhanced diatom's thermal tolerance and influenced cell size; caused significant differential expression of many genes such as cell division cycle protein 45 like (Cdc45-like, named PtCdc45-like), light harvesting complex protein 2 (Lhcx2), and fatty acid desaturase (FAD). Cleavage Under Targets and Tagmentation (CUT&Tag) and CUT&Tag-qPCR analyses demonstrated that PtHSF2 targeted and up-regulated Cdc45-like and Lhcx2, down-regulated ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter. Functional validation analysis of PtCdc45-like showed that its overexpression induced a larger cell size, enhanced antioxidant capacity, and therefore improved cell survival rate at high temperatures. Collectively, our results elucidated the molecular mechanism of PtHSF2 mediating high-temperature tolerance of diatoms and validated the functions of its target gene PtCdc45-like. These findings emphasize the importance of heat shock transcription factors in the temperature adaptation of diatoms and provide new insights for temperature acclimation studies in microalgae. Earth and environmental sciences/Ocean sciences/Marine biology Biological sciences/Ecology/Ecological genetics Diatoms heat shock transcription factor thermal tolerance Cleavage Under Targets and Tagmentation Full Text Additional Declarations There is NO Competing Interest. Supplementary Files 3.SupplementaryTable2.xlsx Table 2 2.Supplementaryinformation.pdf NCOMMS2406983rs.pdf Reporting Summary Cite Share Download PDF Status: Published Journal Publication published 10 Apr, 2025 Read the published version in Nature Communications → Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-3919469","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":273061690,"identity":"790b6a50-5a9f-405e-8860-99410ee7f806","order_by":0,"name":"Dawei 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adaptation","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":false,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":true,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"nature-portfolio","isNatureJournal":true,"hasQc":false,"allowDirectSubmit":false,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"","title":"Nature Portfolio","twitterHandle":"","acdcEnabled":false,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"ejp","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":true,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":false},"keywords":"Diatoms, heat shock transcription factor, thermal tolerance, Cleavage Under Targets and Tagmentation","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-3919469/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-3919469/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"Diatoms are a crucial component of marine ecosystems, known for their broad environmental adaptability and wide temperature tolerance. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying their adaptability to diverse temperatures are unknown. In this study, we discovered that heat shock transcription factors (HSFs) are potentially important for thermal tolerance in diatoms. Our study focused on PtHSF2, which was annotated as HSF2 in Phaeodactylum tricornutum’s genome and was ubiquitous in diatoms. Overexpression of PtHSF2 markedly enhanced diatom's thermal tolerance and influenced cell size; caused significant differential expression of many genes such as cell division cycle protein 45 like (Cdc45-like, named PtCdc45-like), light harvesting complex protein 2 (Lhcx2), and fatty acid desaturase (FAD). Cleavage Under Targets and Tagmentation (CUT\u0026Tag) and CUT\u0026Tag-qPCR analyses demonstrated that PtHSF2 targeted and up-regulated Cdc45-like and Lhcx2, down-regulated ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporter. Functional validation analysis of PtCdc45-like showed that its overexpression induced a larger cell size, enhanced antioxidant capacity, and therefore improved cell survival rate at high temperatures. Collectively, our results elucidated the molecular mechanism of PtHSF2 mediating high-temperature tolerance of diatoms and validated the functions of its target gene PtCdc45-like. 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