Heat Stress Memory Is Critical for Tolerance to Recurrent Thermostress in the Foliose Red Alga <i>Pyropia yezoensis</i>
2025
Megumu Takahashi | Koji Mikami
Bangiales are photosynthetic organisms that grow in the intertidal zone, a region characterized by fluctuating environmental conditions. The order comprises genera exhibiting two different morphological variations, filamentous and foliose. It was recently demonstrated that the filamentous alga ‘<i>Bangia</i>’ sp. ESS1 possesses the intrinsic ability to “memorize” an experience of prior heat stress to enhance its survival under subsequent, normally lethal, high-temperature conditions via the acquisition of heat stress tolerance. Here, we investigated whether foliose red algae can similarly memorize heat stress to acquire thermotolerance. When <i>Pyropia yezoensis</i> thalli were primed with non-lethal, high-temperature treatments (22 and 25 °C) for 7 days, vegetative cells subsequently triggered with a normally lethal temperature of 30 °C showed dramatically increased survival rates, indicating that <i>P. yezoensis</i> can acquire heat stress tolerance via exposure to non-lethal high temperatures. In addition, when 22 °C-primed thalli were incubated at 15 °C for recovery, vegetative cells survived subsequent incubation at 30 °C; their survival rates varied depending on the duration of recovery. These findings indicate that, like filamentous red algae, the foliose species <i>P. yezoensis</i> memorizes heat stress to acquire tolerance to recurrent thermostress. The identification of heat stress memory in foliose Bangiales lays a foundation for improving the heat stress tolerance of these important algae, supporting the sustainability of the nori mariculture industry.
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