Title: | Antarctic and Arctic populations of the ciliate Euplotes nobilii show common pheromone-mediated cell-cell signaling and cross-mating |
Author(s): | Di Giuseppe G; Erra F; Dini F; Alimenti C; Vallesi A; Pedrini B; Wuthrich K; Luporini P; |
Address: | "Dipartimento di Biologia, University of Pisa, 56126 Pisa, Italy" |
ISSN/ISBN: | 1091-6490 (Electronic) 0027-8424 (Print) 0027-8424 (Linking) |
Abstract: | "Wild-type strains of the protozoan ciliate Euplotes collected from different locations on the coasts of Antarctica, Tierra del Fuego and the Arctic were taxonomically identified as the morpho-species Euplotes nobilii, based on morphometric and phylogenetic analyses. Subsequent studies of their sexual interactions revealed that mating combinations of Antarctic and Arctic strains form stable pairs of conjugant cells. These conjugant pairs were isolated and shown to complete mutual gene exchange and cross-fertilization. The biological significance of this finding was further substantiated by demonstrating that close homology exists among the three-dimensional structures determined by NMR of the water-borne signaling pheromones that are constitutively secreted into the extracellular space by these interbreeding strains, in which these molecules trigger the switch between the growth stage and the sexual stage of the life cycle. The fact that Antarctic and Arctic E. nobilii populations share the same gene pool and belong to the same biological species provides new support to the biogeographic model of global distribution of eukaryotic microorganisms, which had so far been based exclusively on studies of morphological and phylogenetic taxonomy" |
Keywords: | Antarctic Regions Arctic Regions Cell Communication/*physiology Classification Euplotes/classification/*physiology Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Molecular Structure Pheromones/chemistry/*physiology Phylogeny *Reproduction Signal Transduction; |
Notes: | "MedlineDi Giuseppe, Graziano Erra, Fabrizio Dini, Fernando Alimenti, Claudio Vallesi, Adriana Pedrini, Bill Wuthrich, Kurt Luporini, Pierangelo eng Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't 2011/02/09 Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Feb 22; 108(8):3181-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1019432108. Epub 2011 Feb 7" |