Transcriptomic analysis of polyketide synthesis in dinoflagellate, Prorocentrum lima

The benthic dinoflagellate Prorocentrum lima is among the most common toxic morphospecies with a cosmopolitan distribution. P. lima can produce polyketide compounds, such as okadaic acid (OA), dinophysistoxin (DTX) and their analogues, which are responsible for diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP). Studying the molecular mechanism of DSP toxin biosynthesis is crucial for understanding the environmental driver influencing toxin biosynthesis as well as for better monitoring of marine ecosystems. Commonly, polyketides are produced by polyketide synthases (PKS). However, no gene has been confirmatively assigned to DSP toxin production. Here, we assembled a transcriptome from 94,730,858 Illumina RNAseq reads using Trinity, resulting in 147,527 unigenes with average sequence length of 1035 nt. Using bioinformatics analysis methods, we found 210 unigenes encoding single-domain PKS with sequence similarity to type I PKSs, as reported in other dinoflagellates. In addition, 15 transcripts encoding multi-domain PKS (forming typical type I PKSs modules) and 5 transcripts encoding hybrid nonribosomal peptide synthetase (NRPS)/PKS were found. Using comparative transcriptome and differential expression analysis, a total of 16 PKS genes were identified to be up-regulated in phosphorus-limited cultures, which was related to the up regulation of toxin expression. In concert with other recent transcriptome analyses, this study contributes to the building consensus that dinoflagellates may utilize a combination of Type I multi-domain and single-domain PKS proteins, in an as yet undefined manner, to synthesize polyketides. Our study provides valuable genomic resource for future research in order to understand the complex mechanism of toxin production in this dinoflagellate.