The photo-protective role of vitamin D in the microalga Emiliania huxleyi

Or Eliason; Sergey Malitsky; Irina Panizel; Ester Feldmesser; Ziv Porat; Martin Sperfeld; Einat Segev

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2024.109884

The photo-protective role of vitamin D in the microalga Emiliania huxleyi

Or Eliason, Sergey Malitsky, Irina Panizel, Ester Feldmesser, Ziv Porat, Martin Sperfeld, Einat Segev^*

^*Corresponding author for this work

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Abstract

An essential interaction between sunlight and eukaryotes involves vitamin D production through exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. While extensively studied in vertebrates, the role of vitamin D in non-animal eukaryotes like microalgae remains unclear. Here, we investigate the potential involvement of vitamin D in the UV-triggered response of Emiliania huxleyi, a microalga inhabiting shallow ocean depths that are exposed to UV. Our results show that E. huxleyi produces vitamin D₂ and D₃ in response to UV. We further demonstrate that E. huxleyi responds to external administration of vitamin D at the transcriptional level, regulating protective mechanisms that are also responsive to UV. Our data reveal that vitamin D addition enhances algal photosynthetic performance while reducing harmful reactive oxygen species buildup. This study contributes to understanding the function of vitamin D in E. huxleyi and its role in non-animal eukaryotes, as well as its potential importance in marine ecosystems.

Original language	English
Article number	109884
Number of pages	16
Journal	iScience
Volume	27
Issue number	6
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.isci.2024.109884
Publication status	Published - 21 Jun 2024

Funding

We appreciate the technical guidance of Dr. Shifra Ben-Dor, Dr. Merav Kedmi, and Dr. Hadas Keren-Shaul in RNA-sequencing and are thankful for the help of Dr. Ron Rotkopf with statistical analysis and of Dr. Alexander Brandis with LC-MS analysis (Life Sciences Core Facilities, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel). We thank Dr. Shilo Rosenwasser (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) for sharing his expertise in pulse amplitude-modulated fluorometry. We thank Prof. Robert Fluhr and Prof. Dan Yakir (Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel) for valuable comments during the study. We are grateful for Dr. Sheera Adar and Yuval Cohen (The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel) for their insights into UV-induced DNA damage and to Dr. Chana Kranzler (Bar Ilan University, Israel) for her technical and scientific support. Finally, we thank all members of the Segev lab for insightful discussions and input. O.E. received the Sustainability and Energy Research Initiative (SAERI) fellowship. The study was supported by funds received from the Weizmann SAERI program, the European Research Council (ERC StG 101075514), the Israel Science Foundation (ISF 947/18), and the de Botton Center for Marine Science, granted to E.S. Publisher Copyright: © 2024 The Author(s)

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es_iScience_ThePhotoProtectiveRole_PV_2024Final published version, 3.05 MBLicence: CC BY-NC

https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.09.21.558789Licence: CC BY-NC-ND

Cite this

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abstract = "An essential interaction between sunlight and eukaryotes involves vitamin D production through exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation. While extensively studied in vertebrates, the role of vitamin D in non-animal eukaryotes like microalgae remains unclear. Here, we investigate the potential involvement of vitamin D in the UV-triggered response of Emiliania huxleyi, a microalga inhabiting shallow ocean depths that are exposed to UV. Our results show that E. huxleyi produces vitamin D2 and D3 in response to UV. We further demonstrate that E. huxleyi responds to external administration of vitamin D at the transcriptional level, regulating protective mechanisms that are also responsive to UV. Our data reveal that vitamin D addition enhances algal photosynthetic performance while reducing harmful reactive oxygen species buildup. This study contributes to understanding the function of vitamin D in E. huxleyi and its role in non-animal eukaryotes, as well as its potential importance in marine ecosystems.",

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AU - Sperfeld, Martin

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The photo-protective role of vitamin D in the microalga Emiliania huxleyi

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