Transcriptome Profiling of the Salt-Stress Response in the Halophytic Green Alga Dunaliella salina

Abstract

Due to the hypersaline environment cell of Dunaliella salina can change its morphology, growth, and pigment for adapting to the stress. Despite the fact D. salina cell was accustomed to the salt environment, extreme high salinity threatened cell by releasing reactive oxygen species, which raise relative electrical conductivity. With the purpose of surviving, D. salina saved plenty of glycerol to prevent the harm of high salinity. To find out the molecular basis for salinity tolerance, transcriptome sequencing was used to identify salt-regulated genes in D. salina. A total of 40,682 unigenes were identified and annotated based on the multiple databases analysis. We found out that about 717–1012 unigenes are up- or downregulated in hypersaline compared to hyposaline condition. The results of research showed that salinity stress upregulated key genes in photosynthesis and glycerol metabolism, this research is the largest comparative investigation of transcriptome D. salina adapted to very salinity environment, creating a solid base for analyzing the molecular mechanism of salt tolerance of algae and higher plants.