Identification of a putative patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3) ortholog involved in lipid metabolism in microalga Phaeodactylum tricornutum
2015
Wang, Xiang | Liu, Yu-Hong | Hu, Dong-Xiong | Balamurugan, Srinivasan | Lu, Yang | Yang, Wei-Dong | Liu, Jie-Sheng | Li, Hong-Ye
Patatin-like phospholipase domain-containing protein 3 (PNPLA3) has been associated with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease which promoted hepatic lipid synthesis. With high lipid content, microalgae are found to be a potential source of biofuel. Phaeodactylum tricornutum, a fast-growing and oleaginous microalga, is a promising target for enhancing the biofuel by means of metabolic engineering. Here a putative PtPNPLA3 gene from P. tricornutum was cloned and characterized in transgenic P. tricornutum for the first time. Amino acid sequence analysis showed a high homology between PNPLA3 from P. tricornutum and other organisms. Overexpression of PtPNPLA3 increased the transcript level of PtPNPLA3 by 70% in transgenic microalgae compared to wild type. The neutral lipid content in transgenic microalgae was significantly increased by 70%, representing a notable enhancement of the lipid productivity in the transgenic microalgae. The fatty acid profile was also altered as determined by GC–MS analysis, with a significant increase of C20:4 in the transgenic microalgae compared to wild type. This work identified a microalgal PNPLA3 and proved it to be an important node in regulating lipid accumulation in microalgae, also demonstrating an efficient way to improve lipid productivity in microalgae by metabolic engineering.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by National Agricultural Library