Abstract
Main conclusion
For the first time we provide a study on the physiological, ultrastructural and molecular effects of salt stress on a terrestrial symbiotic green microalga, Trebouxia sp. TR9.
Although tolerance to saline conditions has been thoroughly studied in plants and, to an extent, free-living microalgae, scientific data regarding salt stress on symbiotic lichen microalgae is scarce to non-existent. Since lichen phycobionts are capable of enduring harsh, restrictive and rapidly changing environments, it is interesting to study the metabolic machinery operating under these extreme conditions. We aim to determine the effects of prolonged exposure to high salt concentrations on the symbiotic phycobiont Trebouxia sp. TR9, isolated from the lichen Ramalina farinacea. Our results suggest that, when this alga is confronted with extreme saline conditions, the cellular structures are affected to an extent, with limited chlorophyll content loss and photosynthetic activity remaining after 72 h of exposure to 5 M NaCl. Furthermore, this organism displays a rather different molecular response compared to land plants and free-living halophile microalgae, with no noticeable increase in ABA levels and ABA-related gene expression until the external NaCl concentration is raised to 3 M NaCl. Despite this, the ABA transduction pathway seems functional, since the ABA-related genes tested are responsive to exogenous ABA. These observations could suggest that this symbiotic green alga may have developed alternative molecular pathways to cope with highly saline environments.
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Acknowledgements
Supported by the Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (MINECO, Spain) and FEDER (CGL2016-79158-P), and the PROMETEO Excellence in Research Program (Generalitat Valenciana, Spain) (PROMETEO/2017/039). Funding for Ernesto Hinojosa-Vidal was also provided by MINECO (BES-2013-065511). We want to thank the technicians (Mª Teresa Mínguez and Nuria Cebrián) from the Servicio de Microscopía Electrónica (SCSIE) and Jardí Botànic (Universitat de Valencia) who helped us to perform the TEM process; Dr. Ángeles Calatayud (IVIA, Valencia) for her valuable remarks on fluorescence analysis and Guillermo Salvá who performed the earliest experiments and fluorescence measurements. Daniel Sheerin revised the English manuscript.
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Hinojosa-Vidal, E., Marco, F., Martínez-Alberola, F. et al. Characterization of the responses to saline stress in the symbiotic green microalga Trebouxia sp. TR9. Planta 248, 1473–1486 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-018-2993-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00425-018-2993-8