PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Cátia Monteiro
AU  - Sandra Heinrich
AU  - Inka Bartsch
AU  - Klaus Ulrich Valentin
AU  - Erwan Corre
AU  - Jonas Collén
AU  - Lars Harms
AU  - Gernot Glöckner
AU  - Kai Bischof
TI  - Temperature dependent sex-biased gene expression in the gametophytes of the kelp <em>Saccharina latissima</em>
AID  - 10.1101/750455
DP  - 2019 Jan 01
TA  - bioRxiv
PG  - 750455
4099  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/08/30/750455.short
4100  - http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2019/08/30/750455.full
AB  - Saccharina latissima is an economically and ecologically relevant kelp species in Europe and North America. In kelps, the sexuality is expressed during the haploid life stage and the microscopic gametophytes exhibit significant sexual dimorphism. To understand the sex-dependent impact of temperature on the gametophyte stage, we analyzed for the first time, gene expression profiles of male and female gametophytes at three different temperatures (4°C, 12°C and 20°C) characteristic for the species distribution range by using RNA-sequencing. We identified several differentially expressed genes between sexes; while female biased genes were enriched in general metabolism and energy production, male biased genes function within cell cycle and signaling. In our study, temperature modulated sex-biased gene expression, with only a small percentage of differentially expressed genes consistently male (7%) or female-biased (12%) at the three temperatures. Female gametophytes responded stronger to higher temperatures than males, suggesting that males are more heat tolerant. Differences between S. latissima and other brown algal gender-dependent gene expression might mirror the different evolutionary and ecological contexts. Genomic information on kelp gametophyte is still scarce and thus this study adds to our knowledge on sex differences in abiotic stress responses in macroalgae at the transcriptomic level.Highlight The transcriptomic basis for sexual dimorphism and associated metabolic needs are described for the kelp Saccharina latissima. Temperature modulates sex-biased gene expression resulting in a stronger stress response in females.