TY  - JOUR
TI  - Production and Bioassay of a Diffusible Factor that Induces Gametophyte-to-Sporophyte Developmental Reprogramming in the Brown Alga Ectocarpus
AU  - Yao, Haiqin 
AU  - Scornet, Delphine 
AU  - Badis, Yacine 
AU  - Peters, Akira F.
AU  - Jam, Murielle 
AU  - Hervé, Cécile 
AU  - Potin, Philippe 
AU  - Coelho, Susana M.
AU  - Cock, J. Mark
VL  - 10
IS  - 18
PY  - 2020
DA  - 2020/09/20
SP  - e3753
C1  - Bio-protocol 2020;10:e3753
DO  - 10.21769/BioProtoc.3753
UR  - https://doi.org/10.21769/BioProtoc.3753
AB  - The brown alga Ectocarpus has a haploid-diploid life cycle that involves alternation between two multicellular generations, the sporophyte and the gametophyte. Life cycle generation is not determined by ploidy but by a genetic system that includes two different three amino acid loop extension homeodomain transcription factors called OUROBOROS and SAMSARA. In addition, sporophytes have been shown to secrete a diffusible factor into the medium that can induce gametophyte initial cells to switch from the gametophyte to the sporophyte developmental program. The protocol presented here describes how to produce sporophyte-conditioned medium containing the diffusible sporophyte-inducing factor and how to assay for activity of the factor using a meio-spore-based bioassay. The protocol, which describes how several steps of these procedures can be optimised, will represent a useful tool for future work aimed at characterising the diffusible factor and investigating its mode of action.
KW  - Brown algae
KW  - Diffusible sporophyte-inducing factor
KW  - Ectocarpus
KW  - Gamete
KW  - Gametophyte
KW  - Life cycle
KW  - Meio-spore
KW  - Sporophyte
JF  - Bio-protocol
SN  - 2331-8325
PB  - Bio-protocol LLC.
BIO101  - False