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The peculiar distribution of class I and class II aldolases in diatoms and in red algae

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Abstract

Diatom plastids probably evolved by secondary endocytobiosis from a red alga that was up by a eukaryotic host cell. Apparently, this process increased the complexity of the intracellular distribution of metabolic enzymes. We identified genes encoding fructose-bisphosphate aldolases (FBA) in two centric (Odontella sinensis, Thalassiosira pseudonana) and one pennate (Phaeodactylum tricornutum) diatoms and found that four different aldolases are present in both groups: two plastid targeted class II enzymes (FBAC1 and FBAC2), one cytosolic class II (FBA3) and one cytosolic class I (FBA4) enzyme. The pennate Phaeodactylum possesses an additional plastidic class I enzyme (FBAC5). We verified the classification of the different aldolases in the diatoms by enzymatic characterization of isolated plastids and whole cell extracts. Interestingly, our results imply that in plastids of centric and pennate diatoms mainly either class I or class II aldolases are active. We also identified genes for both class I and class II aldolases in red algal EST databases, thus presenting a fascinating example of the reutilization and recompartmentalization of different aldolase isoenzymes during secondary endocytobiosis but as well demonstrating the limited use of metabolic enzymes as markers for the interpretation of phylogenetic histories in algae.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for support by the University of Konstanz and for grants of the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, project Kr 1661/3-1) and the European community (MARGENES, contract QLRT-2001-01226) to PGK. We thank BASF Plant Science GmbH (Ludwigshafen, Germany) for participating in an EST sequencing program.

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Author notes

  1. Yvonne Schroers

    Present address: , Lorettostr. 33, 40219, Düsseldorf, Germany

  2. Oliver Kilian

    Present address: Department of Plant Biology, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 260 Panama Street, Stanford, CA, 94305, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fachbereich Biologie, Universität Konstanz, Postfach M611, Konstanz, Germany

    Peter G. Kroth, Yvonne Schroers & Oliver Kilian

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  1. Peter G. Kroth
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  2. Yvonne Schroers
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Correspondence to Peter G. Kroth.

Additional information

Communicated by R. Bock

The nucleotide sequences have been deposited at Genbank under the accession numbers AY116588, AY191866 and AY212505

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Kroth, P.G., Schroers, Y. & Kilian, O. The peculiar distribution of class I and class II aldolases in diatoms and in red algae. Curr Genet 48, 389–400 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00294-005-0033-2

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