Transcriptomic and lipidomic profiles reveal higher thermal adaptability in a tropical versus a temperate isolate of Chromera velia

The apicomplexan alga Chromera velia is the closest known phototrophic relative of apicomplexan parasites (Sporozoa). Despite its scientific importance as a model for the evolution of parasitic Apicomplexa, only two strains are available in culture. The first isolate (SH), obtained from stony coral in the cold waters of Sydney Harbour, was used for the original species description. The second isolate (OTI) originates from tropical corals at One Tree Island in the Great Barrier Reef. In this study, we compare their growth, transcriptomic, and lipidomic profiles at 20°C and 26°C. Both strains grew faster at 26°C, yet they responded differently to higher temperature. In SH, warming downregulated nearly 85% of its thermally responsive genes, with motility-, cytoskeleton-, and lipid-associated genes most strongly affected, while at 26°C SH retained higher expression of translation and nitrogen, amide, and peptide biosynthesis genes than OTI. OTI, by contrast, mounted a smaller, more balanced response and maintained stable expression of cilium, axoneme, and microtubule genes across both temperatures. The lipidomes of the two strains showed both shared and divergent responses. Both isolates sense and respond to increasing temperature in the same basic way, but OTI stabilizes its membranes, whereas SH redirects lipid synthesis from membrane lipids to storage lipids. OTI membranes were also constitutively less unsaturated than those of SH at both temperatures, consistent with a membrane already suited to warmer water that needs less remodeling. Our data show that two isolates of the same species, originating from different thermal environments, respond to elevated temperature through distinct transcriptomic and lipidomic programs. This suggests that the tropical OTI isolate is adapted to higher temperatures and demonstrates how reef-associated algae respond to rising ocean temperatures.