Responses of cyclic phosphorylation of MAPK-like proteins in intertidal macroalgae after environmental stress

The presence and activation of MAPK-like proteins in intertidal macroalgae is described in the current study. Two MAPK-like proteins of 40 and 42 kDa in size similar to p38 and JNK, of mammalian cells have been identified in six representative species of intertidal macroalgae from the Strait of Gibraltar (Southern Spain), namely in the chlorophytes Ulva rigida and Chaetomorpha aerea, the rhodophytes Corallina elongata and Jania rubens, and the phaeophytes Dictyota dichotoma and Dilophus spiralis. Phosphorylation of MAPK-like proteins was studied during semi-tidal cycles. Analysis of p38-like and JNK-like MAPKs in macroalgae protein extracts was carried out by using specific antibodies against the phosphorylated forms of both MAPKs. Protein blot analysis of samples collected from 2009 to 2011 in natural growing sites on days when either low or high tide occurred at midday, indicated that MAPK-like proteins in all species were highly phosphorylated in response to desiccation imposed by low tide or high irradiance. Phosphorylation of p38-like MAPK always preceded that of JNK-like MAPK. In addition, phosphorylation of MAPKs was fastest in rhodophytes, followed by chlorophytes and then finally phaeophytes. In the first group, phosphorylation was mostly dependent on desiccation, whereas both high irradiance and desiccation were responsible for p38-like and JNK-like phosphorylation in chlorophytes. In phaeophytes, high irradiance was mostly responsible for MAPK-like activation.