Influence de la lumière et de l'horloge circadienne sur la gestion de la carence en fer chez Ostreococcus sp.

Iron is an abundant element in the earth crust and is essential for almost organisms. In the marine environment, however, its bioavailability is often low and the iron supplies sporadic. Phytoplanktonic species have developed various strategies to face iron limitation and adapt to different ecological niches. Green picoalgae from the genus Ostreococcus (Prasinophyceae) are widespread in the global ocean and numerous ecotypes have been isolated from contrasted environments. The main objective of my thesis was to identify the strategie(s) used by the genus Ostreococcus in response to iron starvation and in particular the influence of the day/night cycle and the circadian clock in the regulation of iron homeostasis. I focused my work on the lagoon ecotype, Ostreococcus tauri (Clade C), which has emerged as a model organism for functional genomics approaches thanks to the development of genetic transformation by random insertion and homologous recombination. I have studied ferritin, a protein involved in iron storage which is present throughout the tree of life. I showed that ferritin is regulated by the light/dark cycle and the circadian clock and that it is a key player in the regulation of iron uptake and the recycling. Finally, I characterized the acclimation and adaptation strategies to iron limitations of several Ostreococcus ecotypes including O.tauri, RCC802 (Clade A), RCC809 (Clade B) and a cell biomass mutant of O.tauri. The reduction of cell biomass appears to be a main mechanism of acclimation in response to iron limitation.Le fer est un élément présent en abondance dans la croûte terrestre, indispensable à la quasi-totalité des êtres vivants. Cependant, en milieu marin la biodisponibilité du fer est souvent faible et sporadique. Les micro-algues du phytoplancton ont développé des stratégies pour faire face à cette limitation en fer et s’adapter à des niches écologiques variables. Les micro-algues vertes du genre Ostreococcus (Prasinophyceae) présentent une large distribution géographique dans l’océan mondial, et de nombreux écotypes venant de milieux contrastés ont été isolés. L’objectif principal de ma thèse était d’étudier les différentes stratégies mises en place par le genre Ostreococcus, et notamment l’influence de la lumière et de l’horloge circadienne, dans la gestion de la carence en fer. Mon travail s’est focalisé sur l’étude d’Ostreococcus tauri, écotype lagunaire (Clade C), que de récentes techniques de transformation par insertion et recombinaison homologue ont promu comme un organisme modèle pour des approches de génétique fonctionnelle. J’ai étudié la ferritine, une protéine impliquée dans la gestion de la réserve en fer chez de nombreux organismes, et mis en évidence sa régulation par l’alternance jour/nuit et l’horloge circadienne. J’ai montré son rôle dans l’assimilation du fer, la régulation de l’homéostasie du fer et le recyclage du fer intracellulaire lors d’une carence. Enfin, j’ai caractérisé les stratégies d’acclimatation et d’adaptation à la carence en fer chez plusieurs écotypes d’Ostreococcus, dont O. tauri, RCC 802 (Clade A), RCC 809 (Clade B) et un mutant de taille/biomasse. Une stratégie d’acclimatation par réduction de la biomasse cellulaire a été mise en évidence

Influence of light and circadian clock on iron deficiency management in Ostreococcus species

Le fer est un élément présent en abondance dans la croûte terrestre, indispensable à la quasi-totalité des êtres vivants. Cependant, en milieu marin la biodisponibilité du fer est souvent faible et sporadique. Les micro-algues du phytoplancton ont développé des stratégies pour faire face à cette limitation en fer et s’adapter à des niches écologiques variables. Les micro-algues vertes du genre Ostreococcus (Prasinophyceae) présentent une large distribution géographique dans l’océan mondial, et de nombreux écotypes venant de milieux contrastés ont été isolés. L’objectif principal de ma thèse était d’étudier les différentes stratégies mises en place par le genre Ostreococcus, et notamment l’influence de la lumière et de l’horloge circadienne, dans la gestion de la carence en fer. Mon travail s’est focalisé sur l’étude d’Ostreococcus tauri, écotype lagunaire (Clade C), que de récentes techniques de transformation par insertion et recombinaison homologue ont promu comme un organisme modèle pour des approches de génétique fonctionnelle. J’ai étudié la ferritine, une protéine impliquée dans la gestion de la réserve en fer chez de nombreux organismes, et mis en évidence sa régulation par l’alternance jour/nuit et l’horloge circadienne. J’ai montré son rôle dans l’assimilation du fer, la régulation de l’homéostasie du fer et le recyclage du fer intracellulaire lors d’une carence. Enfin, j’ai caractérisé les stratégies d’acclimatation et d’adaptation à la carence en fer chez plusieurs écotypes d’Ostreococcus, dont O. tauri, RCC 802 (Clade A), RCC 809 (Clade B) et un mutant de taille/biomasse. Une stratégie d’acclimatation par réduction de la biomasse cellulaire a été mise en évidence.Iron is an abundant element in the earth crust and is essential for almost organisms. In the marine environment, however, its bioavailability is often low and the iron supplies sporadic. Phytoplanktonic species have developed various strategies to face iron limitation and adapt to different ecological niches. Green picoalgae from the genus Ostreococcus (Prasinophyceae) are widespread in the global ocean and numerous ecotypes have been isolated from contrasted environments. The main objective of my thesis was to identify the strategie(s) used by the genus Ostreococcus in response to iron starvation and in particular the influence of the day/night cycle and the circadian clock in the regulation of iron homeostasis. I focused my work on the lagoon ecotype, Ostreococcus tauri (Clade C), which has emerged as a model organism for functional genomics approaches thanks to the development of genetic transformation by random insertion and homologous recombination. I have studied ferritin, a protein involved in iron storage which is present throughout the tree of life. I showed that ferritin is regulated by the light/dark cycle and the circadian clock and that it is a key player in the regulation of iron uptake and the recycling. Finally, I characterized the acclimation and adaptation strategies to iron limitations of several Ostreococcus ecotypes including O.tauri, RCC802 (Clade A), RCC809 (Clade B) and a cell biomass mutant of O.tauri. The reduction of cell biomass appears to be a main mechanism of acclimation in response to iron limitation

Efficient gene targeting and foreign DNA removal by homologous recombination in the picoeukaryote Ostreococcus

With fewer than 8000 genes and a minimalist cellular organization, the green picoalga Ostreococcus tauri is one of the simplest photosynthetic eukaryotes. Ostreococcus tauri contains many plant-specific genes but exhibits a very low gene redundancy. The haploid genome is extremely dense with few repeated sequences and rare transposons. Thanks to the implementation of genetic transformation and vectors for inducible overexpression/knockdown this picoeukaryotic alga has emerged in recent years as a model organism for functional genomics analyses and systems biology. Here we report the development of an efficient gene targeting technique which we use to knock out the nitrate reductase and ferritin genes and to knock in a luciferase reporter in frame to the ferritin native protein. Furthermore, we show that the frequency of insertion by homologous recombination is greatly enhanced when the transgene is designed to replace an existing genomic insertion. We propose that a natural mechanism based on homologous recombination may operate to remove inserted DNA sequences from the genome

Different iron sources to study the physiology and biochemistry of iron metabolism in marine micro-algae.

International audience: We compared ferric EDTA, ferric citrate and ferrous ascorbate as iron sources to study iron metabolism in Ostreococcus tauri, Phaeodactlylum tricornutum and Emiliania huxleyi. Ferric EDTA was a better iron source than ferric citrate for growth and chlorophyll levels. Direct and indirect experiments showed that iron was much more available to the cells when provided as ferric citrate as compared to ferric EDTA. As a consequence, growth media with iron concentration in the range 1-100 nM were rapidly iron-depleted when ferric citrate-but not ferric EDTA was the iron source. When cultured together, P. tricornutum cells overgrew the two other species in iron-sufficient conditions, but E. huxleyi was able to compete other species in iron-deficient conditions, and when iron was provided as ferric citrate instead of ferric EDTA, which points out the critical influence of the chemical form of iron on the blooms of some phytoplankton species. The use of ferric citrate and ferrous ascorbate allowed us to unravel a kind of regulation of iron uptake that was dependent on the day/night cycles and to evidence independent uptake systems for ferrous and ferric iron, which can be regulated independently and be copper-dependent or independent. The same iron sources also allowed one to identify molecular components involved in iron uptake and storage in marine micro-algae. Characterizing the mechanisms of iron metabolism in the phytoplankton constitutes a big challenge; we show here that the use of iron sources more readily available to the cells than ferric EDTA is critical for this task

A comparative study of iron uptake mechanisms in marine micro-algae: iron binding at the cell surface is a critical step.

International audienceWe investigated iron uptake mechanisms in five marine micro-algae from different ecologically important phyla: the diatoms Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Thalassiosira pseudonana, the Prasinophyceae Ostreococcus tauri and Micromonas pusilla, and the Coccolithophore Emiliania huxleyi. Among these species, only the two diatoms were clearly able to reduce iron, via an inducible (P. tricornutum) or constitutive (T. pseudonana) ferrireductase system displaying characteristics similar to the yeast Fre proteins. Iron uptake mechanisms probably involve very different components according to the species, but the species we studied shared common features. Regardless of the presence and/or induction of a ferrireductase system, all the species were able to take up both ferric and ferrous iron, and iron reduction was not a prerequisite for uptake. Iron uptake decreased with increasing the affinity constants of iron-ligand complexes, and with increasing ligand: iron ratios. Therefore, at least one step of the iron uptake mechanism involves a thermodynamically controlled process. Another step escapes to simple thermodynamic rules, and involves specific and strong binding of ferric as well as ferrous iron at the cell surface before uptake of iron. Binding was paradoxically increased in iron-rich conditions, whereas uptake per se was induced in all species only after prolonged iron deprivation. We sought intracellular proteins loaded with iron following iron uptake. One such protein in O. tauri may be ferritin, and in P. tricornutum Isip1 may be involved. We conclude that the species we studied have uptake systems for both ferric and ferrous iron, both involving specific iron binding at the cell surface

Ostreococcus tauri Luminescent Reporter Lines as Biosensors for Detecting Pollution From Copper-Mine Tailing Effluents in Coastal Environments

International audiencePhytoplankton cells are excellent biosensors for environmental monitoring and toxicity assessments in different natural systems. Green algae, in particular, appear to be more responsive to copper (Cu) disturbances. This is interesting considering that Cu pollution in coastal environments has increased over the last century, with enormous repercussions to marine ecosystems. Unfortunately, no high-throughput method exists for the environmental monitoring of Cu toxicity in seawater. To assess potential uses as biosensors of Cu pollution, high-throughput screening was performed on five luminescence reporter lines constructed in the green algae Ostreococcus tauri RCC745. The reporter line expressing the iron storage ferritin protein fused to luciferase (Fer-Luc) was the most sensitive, responding to Cu concentrations in the µM range. Fer-Luc was also the most sensitive reporter line for detecting toxicity in mining-derived polluted seawater predominantly contaminated by soluble Cu. Nevertheless, the Cyclin-Dependent-Kinase A (CDKA) reporter was most suitable for detecting the toxicity of copper-mine tailing effluents containing other metals (e.g., iron). These results highlight that Ostreococcus biosensors can serve as a reliable, inexpensive, and automated, high-throughput laboratory approach for performing seawater analyses of coastal areas subjected to metal disturbances. When challenged with Cu, Ostreococcus tauri not only evidenced a rapid, transcriptional response for the tested genes, but also showed changes in a broad range of genes, especially as related to the stress response. Overall, the obtained results reinforce that a single biosensor is insufficient when dealing with complex mixtures of toxic compounds in natural environments