A family of silicon transporter structural genes in a pennate diatom Synedra ulna subsp. danica (Kütz.) Skabitsch

PLoS One. 2018 Aug 29;13(8):e0203161. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0203161. eCollection 2018.

Abstract

Silicon transporters (SIT) are the proteins, which capture silicic acid in the aquatic environment and direct it across the plasmalemma to the cytoplasm of diatoms. Diatoms utilize silicic acid to build species-specific ornamented exoskeletons and make a significant contribution to the global silica cycle, estimated at 240 ±40 Tmol a year. Recently SaSIT genes of the freshwater araphid pennate diatom Synedra acus subsp. radians are found to be present in the genome as a cluster of two structural genes (SaSIT-TD and SaSIT-TRI) encoding several concatenated copies of a SIT protein each. These structural genes could potentially be transformed into "mature" SIT proteins by means of posttranslational proteolytic cleavage. In the present study, we discovered three similar structural SuSIT genes in the genome of a closely related freshwater diatom Synedra ulna subsp. danica. Structural gene SuSIT1 is identical to structural gene SuSIT2, and the two are connected by a non-coding nucleotide DNA sequence. All the putative "mature" SITs contain conserved amino acid motifs, which are believed to be important in silicon transport. The data obtained suggest that the predicted "mature" SIT proteins may be the minimal units necessary for the transport of silicon is S. ulna subsp. danica. The comparative analysis of all available multi-SITs has allowed us to detect two conservative motifs YQXDXVYL and DXDID, located between the "mature" proteins. Aspartic acid-rich DXDID motif can, in our opinion, serve as a proteolysis site during the multi-SIT cleavage. The narrow distribution of the distances between CMLD and DXDID motifs can serve as additional evidence to the conservation of their function.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Motifs
  • Carrier Proteins / genetics*
  • Carrier Proteins / metabolism
  • Conserved Sequence
  • Diatoms / genetics*
  • Diatoms / metabolism
  • Evolution, Molecular
  • Membrane Proteins
  • Models, Molecular
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
  • Silicon / metabolism

Substances

  • ASI1 protein, S cerevisiae
  • Carrier Proteins
  • Membrane Proteins
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
  • Silicon

Grants and funding

This study was supported by government projects (FASO Russia) “Molecular and Cell Biology” (0345-2015-0031, state registration No АААА-А15-115122810221-8) (MAG) and (FASO Russia) “Experimental studies of genomes and proteomes” (0345-2016-0005, state registration No AAAA-A16-116122110068-5) (MAG).