Cross-Kingdom Comparative Transcriptomics Reveals Conserved Genetic Modules in Response to Cadmium Stress

Abstract

Research is establishing a systems biology view of biological response to Cd stress. It is meaningful to explore whether there is regulatory isomorphy among distantly related organisms.

Genomic and Transcriptomic Analysis Reveal Multiple Strategies for the Cadmium Tolerance in Vibrio parahaemolyticus N10-18 Isolated from Aquatic Animal Ostrea gigas Thunberg

“…This was consistent with the high tolerance of V. parahaemolyticus N10-18 to Zn 2+ . Given that Cd is chemically similar to Zn, both of which belong to the IIB transition elements [ 67 ], our result provided evidence for the expulsion of Cd 2+ via the Zn 2+ channels in V. parahaemolyticus N10-18. On the other hand, the DEGs ( afuA and fhuB ) encoding the ion and metal transporters were also up-regulated ( p < 0.05).…”

“…The CusC(F)BA complex exports copper (I) and silver (I) and mediates resistance to these two metal ions in E. coli [ 102 ]. Interestingly, in this study, the ABC transporter encoded by the znuABC genes for high-affinity Zn 2+ uptake [ 66 , 67 ] was also highly increased at the transcriptional level (2.594- to 11.609-fold) ( p < 0.05). This was consistent with the high tolerance of V. parahaemolyticus N10-18 to Zn 2+ .…”

“…For example, the cadC gene and dsbABC gene cluster, which are responsible for the bacterial tolerance to Cd, Zn, and Pb, as well as Cd, Zn, Hg, and Cu, respectively [ 65 ], were present in the V. parahaemolyticus N10-18 genome. Moreover, the zntAR, znuABC, zur, and smtA genes for the Zn and Hg tolerance [ 65 , 66 , 67 ] were also identified ( Table 2 ). These results were consistent with the heavy metal tolerance phenotype of V. parahaemolyticus N10-18.…”

“…Cd is chemically similar to Zn, both of which belong to the IIB transition elements. It is probably common in microbial species that Cd 2+ is imported via the Zn channels [ 67 ]. Likewise, with expression of three DEGs for the iron (III) transportation, which encoded a Fe 3+ -hydroxamate ABC transporter permease FhuB ( fhuB , Vp_N10_18_1520) , an iron (III) ABC transporter ATP-binding protein ( Vp_N10_18_1522) , and an iron ABC transporter substrate-binding protein ( afuA , Vp_N10_18_1887 ), all were significantly increased (2.243- to 3.891-fold) ( p < 0.05).…”