Identification of mRNAs expressed differentially between micronucleates and amicronucleates of Pseudourostyla cristata during starvation

Abstract

The evident character of amicronucleates of Pseudourostyla cristata, as compared with the normal micronucleates, was that a substantial proportion of cells exhibited an abnormal AZM. Moreover, the percentage of abnormal AZMs in amicronucleates during starvation was much higher. To understand how the molecular events of the micronucleus govern this mode, we employed suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH) to identify candidate genes which express in micronucleate cells but not in amicronucleate cells during starvation. A total of 284 transcripts were screened by cDNA array and 17 clones were confirmed to be differentially expressed among micronucleate cell. All 17 ESTs were analyzed by blaster matching in GeneBank at deduced amino acid sequence: 10 clones, no homologous proteins; 4 clones, myoglobin protein; 1 clone, cytochrome P450 monooxygenase; 1 clone, cytosolic malate dehydrogenase; the last clone, homologs of hsp90, which is interesting. Traditionally, heat shock proteins are known for their function during cellular stress as molecular chaperones responsible for the folding, refolding and transport of newly synthesized protein. Why was it significantly enhanced in micronucleates but not in amicronucleates during starvation? Further research including RACE, immunoblotting and gel mobility shift will be carried out. This work was supported by a grant from NSFC (No: 30370210) to L. P. JIN.