Transcriptomic Illuminations: How light intensity reshapes the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cell cycle

Abstract

The unicellular algae cell cycle can be divided into several phases, including the commitment point (CP), a point-of-no-return where the cell decides to divide, presumably based on reaching a critical cell size. Light plays a crucial role in the fitness of photosynthetic algal cells, affecting both CP timing and the number of daughter cells produced. So far, only few genes involved in CP have been described, and the presumed sizer and its signal(s) remain unidentified. Using synchronized cells and varying light intensities as a proxy, we explored the effects of light intensity in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and observed both physiological and transcriptional changes occurring before and after CP under low light (LL) (100 {micro}mol m-{superscript 2} s-{superscript 1}) and optimal light (OL) (500 {micro}mol m-{superscript 2} s-{superscript 1}) conditions. Although CP was delayed by approximately 6 hours in LL, resulting in smaller mother cells and fewer daughter cells, the cells divided at the same time in both conditions. Overall, nucleic acid, protein, and energy reserve levels were lower in LL, with almost no starch produced. RNA-seq analysis identified several core genes shared between both conditions, with 201 genes expressed only in pre-CP1, 161 genes specific to post-CP1, and 582 shared across different phases. In LL, RNA-seq analysis showed an increase in differentially expressed genes (DEGs) in pre-CP1 compared to post-CP1, with an emphasis on photosynthesis, RNA metabolism, and organelle production before commitment, and cell division-related pathways (microtubules, DNA recombination) after CP1. In OL, the number of DEGs increased in post-CP1 by approximately 41% compared to pre-CP1, with a strong emphasis on protein production throughout the cell cycle.