INSIGHT

ENDOSYMBIOSIS Gasping for air Transcriptomics is shedding new light on the relationship between photosynthetic and .

STEVEN G BALL AND UGO CENCI

It has been shown that algae grow Related research article Burns JA, Zhang H, better in water populated with salamander Hill E, Kim E, Kerney R. 2017. Transcriptome embryos, and the salamander embryos are analysis illuminates the nature of the healthier when more algae are present. Initially, it was thought that the alga and the salamander intracellular interaction in a vertebrate-algal form an ectosymbiotic relationship, where the symbiosis. eLife 6:e22054. doi: 10.7554/ alga grows around the eggs of the salamander eLife.22054 and supplies the embryo with and in exchange for waste products (Graham et al., 2013; Small et al., 2014). However, it was recently discovered that these ectosymbionts can reach and penetrate into embryo cells to rimary endosymbiosis involves the pene- also form an endosymbiotic relationship, with P tration of single bacteria into the the alga living inside the embryo cells of the sal- cytoplasm of eukaryotic host cells, amander (Kerney et al., 2011). whereas secondary endosymbiosis involves sin- To better understand the molecular mecha- gle cell entering eukaryotic host nisms underlying this relationship, Burns et al. cells. Both of these forms of endosymbiosis are used a technique called differential expression usually followed by many different types of sym- RNA-seq analysis to compare the transcriptomes biotic interactions. Moreover, certain organelles (that is, all the transcripts) of three differ- found in eukaryotic cells, notably mitochondria ent types of algae: ectosymbiotic algae that and , are the result of endosymbiosis. lived around the ; endosymbiotic algae that Endosymbiosis is rather rare in vertebrates, lived inside the embryos; and algae that were mainly because their immune system is likely to grown in the laboratory (Burns et al., 2017). In fend off any invaders. So what challenges do addition, they compared the transcriptomes of potential symbionts face upon entering a poten- the salamander embryo cells that either con- tially hostile intracellular environment? Now, in tained or lacked the algae. eLife, John Burns of the American Museum of The technical originality and finesse of this Natural History, Ryan Kerney of Gettysburg Col- approach lie in the comparison between ecto- lege and colleagues provide a surprising answer and endosymbiotic transcriptomes of the algae: to these questions (Burns et al., 2017). studying the different types of symbiotic rela- A well-known example of a symbiotic rela- tionships that occur within the same individual tionship is that of the green Volvocean alga helps to provide a clearer picture of the molecu- Oophila amblystomatis, and the spotted sala- lar mechanisms that shape these processes. Copyright Ball and Cenci. This mander Ambystoma maculatum. These algae Burns et al. discovered that the endosymbi- article is distributed under the terms are photosynthetic, so they use light energy to otic algae experienced a shift from an oxidative of the Creative Commons Attribution produce sugar and oxygen. Oophila algae also metabolism to a fermentative metabolism. The License, which permits unrestricted need oxygen to survive, but they can withstand algae also experienced a clear increase in tran- use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are anoxia (that is, a total lack of oxygen) for short scripts from of algal fermentative metabo- credited. periods of time. lism, including an increase of hydrogenase,

Ball and Cenci. eLife 2017;6:e27004. DOI: 10.7554/eLife.27004 1 of 3 Insight Endosymbiosis Gasping for air

which is the hallmark of a switch to anoxia metabolic signaling pathways, they did not (Grossman et al., 2011). This was accompanied exhibit any signs of stress. by a reduction in transcripts of core components The work by Burns et al. highlights the prob- of photosystem II (which produces oxygen) and lems a lack of oxygen in the intracellular environ- mitochondrial complex I. This response mirrors ment can pose for photosynthetic algae, once the response of the related green alga Chlamy- they have managed to breach the immune domonas reinhardti to an absence of sulfur, defenses of their host. The unexpected shortage which involves a reduction in oxygen production of sulfur inside the host cell exacerbates these by photosystem II, as well as reductions in sul- problems, leading to a switch to fermentative fate transport and sulfur metabolism metabolism. It is thought that primary or sec- (Nguyen et al., 2008). ondary plastids – organelles found in and The limitations imposed on by algae that are responsible for producing and shortages of oxygen and/or sulfur, combined storing food – evolved from comparable photo- with a lack of light inside the embryonic cells, synthetic (cyanobacteria or means that very little carbon fixation will occur. eukaryotic algae) that had to address these and This is consistent with previous work which other challenges. showed that immotile endosymbionts display lower levels of than free-swimming ecto- Steven G Ball is in the Institute for Functional symbionts, despite the fact that swimming has and Structural Glycobiology (UGSF), UMR8576 been demonstrated to have a strong negative University of Lille/CNRS, Villeneuve d’Ascq, impact on starch accumulation in C. France reinhardti (Hamilton et al., 1992). [email protected] In addition to those symptoms related to http://orcid.org/0000-0003-1629-1650 a lack of oxygen, the algae inside the embryo Ugo Cenci is in the Institute for Functional and showed signs of cellular stress and had higher Structural Glycobiology (UGSF), UMR8576 levels of proteins that are usually expressed in University of Lille/CNRS, Villeneuve d’Ascq, response to stressors such as heat shock or France autophagy. Hence, the endosymbionts are likely Competing interests: The authors declare that no gasping for air and actively breaking down their competing interests exist. polysaccharide stores by fermentation, which is Published 02 May 2017 a well-known response to hypoxia in Volvocean algae (Klein and Betz, 1978). Given these cir- References cumstances, it seems rather unlikely that the Burns JA, Zhang H, Hill E, Kim E, Kerney R. 2017. endosymbiotic algae are in a position to supply Transcriptome analysis illuminates the nature of the significant amounts of either oxygen or photo- intracellular interaction in a vertebrate-algal symbiosis. synthate to the embryo cells. It remains thus eLife 6:e22054. doi: 10.7554/eLife.22054 Graham ER, Fay SA, Davey A, Sanders RW. 2013. unclear how these cells may actually benefit Intracapsular algae provide fixed carbon to developing from the presence of the algae. embryos of the salamander Ambystoma maculatum. The dramatic response of the endosymbiotic Journal of Experimental 216:452–459. doi: 10. algae to a lack of oxygen somewhat resembles 1242/jeb.076711, PMID: 23038736 the responses that occur in certain intracellular Grossman AR, Catalanotti C, Yang W, Dubini A, Magneschi L, Subramanian V, Posewitz MC, Seibert M. parasites (Polonais and Soldati-Favre, 2010) or 2011. Multiple facets of anoxic metabolism and bacteria. These microorganisms show similar hydrogen production in the unicellular green alga stress responses and need fermentation to cre- Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. New Phytologist 190: ate energy. In addition, some bacteria use a spe- 279–288. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-8137.2010.03534.x, PMID: 21563367 cific enzyme with a high affinity to oxygen to Hamilton BS, Nakamura K, Roncari DA. 1992. initiate a cellular ‘microaerophilic’ response Accumulation of starch in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii when oxygen is scarce or unavailable flagellar mutants. Biochemistry and Cell Biology 70: (Juul et al., 2007; Omsland et al., 2013). 255–258. doi: 10.1139/o92-039, PMID: 1515125 The embryo cells, on the other hand, Juul N, Jensen H, Hvid M, Christiansen G, Birkelund S. 2007. Characterization of in vitro chlamydial cultures in appeared to be rather unfazed by the algae liv- low-oxygen atmospheres. Journal of Bacteriology 189: ing inside them. Modifications in their gene tran- 6723–6726. doi: 10.1128/JB.00279-07, scripts suggested a lowered innate immune PMID: 17631631 response, and while the embryo cells with endo- Kerney R, Kim E, Hangarter RP, Heiss AA, Bishop CD, Hall BK. 2011. Intracellular invasion of in a symbiotic algae experienced changes in their

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salamander host. PNAS 108:6497–6502. doi: 10.1073/ for obligate intracellular bacterial pathogens. PLoS pnas.1018259108, PMID: 21464324 Pathogens 9:e1003540. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat. Klein U, Betz A. 1978. Fermentative metabolism of 1003540, PMID: 24039571 hydrogen-evolving Chlamydomonas moewusii. Polonais V, Soldati-Favre D. 2010. Versatility in the Physiology 61:953–956. doi: 10.1104/pp.61.6.953, acquisition of energy and carbon sources by the PMID: 16660433 Apicomplexa. Biology of the Cell 102:435–445. Nguyen AV, Thomas-Hall SR, Malnoe¨ A, Timmins M, doi: 10.1042/BC20100005, PMID: 20586726 Mussgnug JH, Rupprecht J, Kruse O, Hankamer B, Small DP, Bennett RS, Bishop CD. 2014. The roles of Schenk PM. 2008. Transcriptome for photobiological oxygen and ammonia in the symbiotic relationship hydrogen production induced by sulfur deprivation in between the Ambystoma the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Eukaryotic maculatum and the green alga Oophila amblystomatis Cell 7:1965–1979. doi: 10.1128/EC.00418-07, PMID: 1 during . Symbiosis 64:1–10. 8708561 doi: 10.1007/s13199-014-0297-8 Omsland A, Hackstadt T, Heinzen RA. 2013. Bringing culture to the uncultured: Coxiella burnetii and lessons

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