Life cycle and morphogenetic differentiation in heteromorphic cell types of a cosmopolitan marine microalga.

ABSTRACT: Gephyrocapsa huxleyi is a prevalent, bloom-forming phytoplankton species in the oceans. It exhibits a complex haplodiplontic life cycle, featuring a diploid-calcified phase, a haploid phase and a third 'decoupled' phase produced during viral infection. Decoupled cells display a haploid-like phenotype, but are diploid. Here, we investigated the fate of decoupled cells during culture observations and we compared the transcriptome profiles and the cellular ultrastructure of the three life cycle cell types. We found that decoupled cells can revert to the calcified form in the absence of viral pressure, revealing the ability of G. huxleyi to modulate cell differentiation as a function of external conditions. Ultrastructural analyses showed distinct nuclear organization with variations in chroma

SUBMITTER: Bousquet L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11798906 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature