Iron starvation and culture age activate metacaspases and programmed cell death in the marine diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana.

ABSTRACT: In the modern ocean, phytoplankton maintain extremely high primary production/biomass ratios, indicating that they bloom, die, and are replaced weekly. The molecular mechanisms regulating cellular mortality and turnover are largely unknown, even though they effectively short-circuit carbon export to the deep ocean and channel primary productivity to microbial food webs. Here, we present morphological, biochemical, and molecular evidence of caspase-mediated, autocatalytic programmed cell death (PCD) in the diatom Thalassiosira pseudonana in response to iron starvation. Transmission electron microscopy revealed internal degradation of nuclear, chloroplastic, and mitochondrial organelles, all while the plasma membranes remained intact. Cellular degradation was concomitant with dramatic decrea

SUBMITTER: Bidle KD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2238155 | biostudies-literature | 2008 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature