H 1 Proton Channels in Dinoflagellates: Not Just for Bioluminescence?

Authors

Gabriel Kigundu, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Kennesaw State University, 370 Paulding Avenue MD 1202, Kennesaw, Georgia, 30144.
Jennifer L. Cooper, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Kennesaw State University, 370 Paulding Avenue MD 1202, Kennesaw, Georgia, 30144.
Susan M. Smith, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Kennesaw State University, 370 Paulding Avenue MD 1202, Kennesaw, Georgia, 30144.

Department

Molecular and Cellular Biology

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

11-1-2018

Abstract

Bioluminescence in dinoflagellates is controlled by H 1 proton channels. Database searches of dinoflagellate transcriptomes and genomes yielded hits with sequence features diagnostic of all confirmed H 1, and show that H 1 is widely distributed in the dinoflagellate phylogeny including the basal species Oxyrrhis marina. Multiple sequence alignments followed by phylogenetic analysis revealed three major subfamilies of H 1 that do not correlate with presence of theca, autotrophy, geographic location, or bioluminescence. These data suggest that most dinoflagellates express a H 1 which has a function separate from bioluminescence. Sequence evidence also suggests that dinoflagellates can contain more than one H 1 gene.

Journal Title

The Journal of eukaryotic microbiology

Volume

65

Issue

6

First Page

928

Last Page

933

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

10.1111/jeu.12627