Transcriptome reprogramming during developmental switching in Physarum polycephalum involves extensive remodeling of intracellular signaling networks

Activation of a phytochrome photoreceptor triggers a program of Physarum polycephalum plasmodial cell differentiation through which a mitotic multinucleate protoplasmic mass synchronously develops into haploid spores formed by meiosis and rearrangement of cellular components. We have performed a transcriptome-wide RNAseq study of cellular reprogramming and developmental switching. RNAseq analysis revealed extensive remodeling of intracellular signaling and regulation in switching the expression of sets of genes encoding transcription factors, kinases, phosphatases, signal transduction proteins, RNA-binding proteins, ubiquitin ligases, regulators of the mitotic and meiotic cell cycle etc. in conjunction with the regulation of genes encoding metabolic enzymes and cytoskeletal proteins. About 15% of the differentially expressed genes shared similarity with members of the evolutionary conserved set of core developmental genes of social amoebae. Differential expression of genes encoding regulators that act at the transcriptional, translational, and post-translational level indicates the establishment of a new state of cellular function and reveals evolutionary deeply conserved molecular changes involved in cellular reprogramming and differentiation in a prototypical eukaryote.