Project description:Differential transcriptome of Paramecium tetraurelia strain 51 undergoing RNAi by feeding against ICL7a (as a control) and RDR3 for nine days.
Project description:5-methyl-cytosine DNA methylation regulates gene expression and developmental programming in a broad range of eukaryotes. However, its presence and potential roles in ciliates, complex single-celled eukaryotes with germline-somatic genome specialization via nuclear dimorphism, are largely uncharted. While canonical cytosine methyltransferases have not been discovered in published ciliate genomes, recent studies performed in the stichotrichous ciliate Oxytricha trifallax suggest de novo cytosine methylation during macronuclear development. In this study, we applied bisfulfite genome sequencing, DNA mass spectrometry and antibody-based fluorescence detection to investigate the presence of DNA methylation in Paramecium tetraurelia. While the antibody-based methods suggest cytosine methylation, DNA mass spectrometry and bisulfite sequencing reveal that levels are actually below the limit of detection. Our results suggest that Paramecium does not utilize 5-methyl-cytosine DNA methylation as an integral part of its epigenetic arsenal.
Project description:PtGtsf1 was fused with FlagHA and induced to express in Paramecium tetraurelia. The interacted proteins of PtGtsf1 was obtained by immunoprecipitation with anti-HA antibody, followed with mass spectrometry to identify the proteins. Meanwhile, FlagHA without PtGtsf1 was expressed in Paramecium tetraurelia as control and was performed with same procedures as PtGtsf1-FlagHA. By comparing the enrichment of proteins in PtGtsf1-FlagHA and control, the interacted proteins of PtGtsf1 in Paramecium tetraurelia were identified.