Ethylene responses in the alga Spirogyra pratensis

The physiological and evolutionary role of the plant hormone ethylene was investigated in the charopyte green alga Spirogyra pratensis by means of RNA-seq. The purpose of this experiment was to find the genes and pathways that are regulated by ethylene over time. Therefore the full transcriptome was analyzed for untreated control and ethylene treated (10 ppm) Spirogyra samples at 3h, 6h, 12h and 24h post treatment. This way we were able to study the role of ethylene in this alga, and its relation to known ethylene responses in land plants.