Abstract
Brown algae have an important role in marine environments. With respect to their broad distribution and importance for the environment and human use, brown algae of the order Fucales in particular became a model system for physiological and ecological studies. Thus, several fucoids have been extensively studied for their composition on the molecular level. However, research of fucoid physiology and biochemistry so far mostly focused on the adult algae, so a holistic view on the development of these organisms, including the crucial first life stages, is still missing. Therefore, we employed non-targeted metabolite profiling by gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry to create a non-biased picture of the early development of the fucoid alga Fucus vesiculosus. We found that embryogenic physiology was mainly dominated by a tight regulation of carbon and energy metabolism. The first dramatic changes of zygote metabolism started within 1 h after fertilization, while metabolism of 6–9 days old embryos appeared already close to that of an adult alga, indicated by the intensive production of secondary metabolites and accumulation of mannitol and citric acid. Given the comprehensive description and analysis we obtained in our experiments, our results exhibit an invaluable resource for the design of further experiments related to physiology of early algal development.
Highlights
Brown algae of the order Fucales inhabit the intertidal zone of rocky seashores almost throughout the world, with the bladderwrack, Fucus vesiculosus, as one of the most common species
A closer examination of the principal components analysis (PCA) results suggests that separation of the 1–9 days after fertilization (AF) and 0–12 h sample groups along principal components (PCs) 2 requires the second dimension of either PC 1 or PC 3, indicating that the compounds contribute to PC
The results of principal component analysis imply that from a biochemical perspective, Fucus early embryogenesis can be divided into two stages: (i) the zygote development, with the first crucial metabolic changes compared to the eggs, starting at least as early as 1 h after fertilization and characterized by high concentrations of monosaccharides and common organic and fatty acids; and (ii) the embryo development, starting after the first zygote division and associated with the accumulation of storage compounds, presumably as a consequence of improved photosynthetic efficiency
Summary
Brown algae of the order Fucales inhabit the intertidal zone of rocky seashores almost throughout the world, with the bladderwrack, Fucus vesiculosus, as one of the most common species. Metabolic substrates of these algae are currently extensively explored in medical research, for example related to their action upon cancer cells, their pro- and anticoagulant effects and others [6]. These multiple uses highlight the importance these organisms have to humans and explain the interest scientists all over the world develop for the physiological aspects in fucoid development. The principal feature of this process making it so attractive to investigate is that fucoid zygotes and embryos develop independently of maternal tissues which makes them accessible for experimental studies at all developmental stages The gametes of these algae are released
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