Transcriptomic comparative study of E. mutabilis and E. gracilis response to arsenic

Arsenic is a toxic metalloid known to be involved in multiple and severe cellular damages including lipid peroxidation, protein misfolding, mutagenesis and DNA double and single stranded breaks. Thus, exposure to this compound is lethal for most of the living cells but some species such as the photosynthetic protist E. mutabilis are able to cope with very high concentrations of this metalloid. This comparative transcriptomic approaches performed on both an arsenic hypertolerant protist, i.e. E. mutabilis, and a more sensitive one, i.e. E. gracilis, revealed multiple mechanisms involved in arsenic tolerance: E. mutabilis prevents the accumulation of arsenic in the cell through the expression of several specific transporters is able to maintain its functional integrity by activating DNA reparation and protein turnover mechanisms.