Spatiotemporal patterns of intracellular Ca2+ signalling govern hypo-osmotic stress resilience in marine diatoms

Diatoms are globally important phytoplankton that dominate coastal and polar-ice assemblages. These environments exhibit substantial changes in salinity over dynamic spatiotemporal regimes. Rapid sensory systems are vital to mitigate the harmful consequences of osmotic stress. Population-based analyses have suggested that Ca2+ signalling is involved in diatom osmotic sensing. However, mechanistic insight of the role of osmotic Ca2+ signalling is limited. Here, we show that Phaeodactylum Ca2+ elevations are essential for surviving hypo-osmotic shock. Moreover, employing novel single-cell imaging techniques we have characterised real-time Ca2+ signalling responses in single diatom cells to environmental osmotic perturbations. We observe that intracellular spatiotemporal patterns of osmotic-induced Ca2+ elevations encode vital information regarding the nature of the osmotic stimulus. Localised Ca2+ signals evoked by mild or gradual hypo-osmotic shocks are propagated globally from the apical cell tips, enabling fine-tuned cell volume regulation across the whole cell. Finally, we demonstrate that diatoms adopt Ca2+-independent and dependent mechanisms for osmoregulation. We find that efflux of organic osmolytes occurs in a Ca2+-independent manner, but this response is insufficient to mitigate cell damage during hypo-osmotic shock. By comparison, Ca2+-dependent signalling is necessary to prevent cell bursting via precise coordination of K+ transport, and therefore is likely to underpin survival in dynamic osmotic environments.

Automated summary

Diatoms are globally important phytoplankton that dominate coastal and polar-ice assemblages. They employ Ca2+ signaling to respond to osmotic stress and regulate cell volume.