Project description:Phytoplankton lipids, such as microalgae lipids, are important compounds of increasing interest in bioenergy, food, pharmacy, aquaculture and ecology for their high molecular diversity. There is a taxonomically diverse lipid response under P stress with unresolved questions related to the diversified mechanism behind the lipid responses. A marine microalgae with high EPA content was isolated, named Nannochloropsis sp. PJ12. We reveal a mechanism of phosphorus-induced lipid class remodeling in Nannochloropsis sp. PJ12 based on highly corresponding transcriptome and lipidome data. Phosphorus- deprivation leads to the rapid reduction of phospholipids (PL) and synthesis of the betaine lipids (BL). Phosphorus-complement recovers the content of PL and BL to the original level. The changes are mediated mainly by a glycerophosphoryldiester phosphodiesterases on the transcriptome level. To adapt to low phospholipids, the transcription levels of gene encoding P transporter were upregulated. When Nannochloropsis sp. PJ12 was once again under phosphorus-complement, some of gene encoding P transporter continue to increase on the transcription levels. The novel phospholipid-remodeling scheme opens new avenues for metabolic engineering of lipid composition in algae.
Project description:Limited systems-level understanding of oil synthesis in wild oleaginous algae has hindered the development of microalgal feedstock. Nannochloropsis is a small unicellular microalgae widely distributed in oceans and fresh water. In many large-scale and pilot-scale outdoor cultivation facilities, Nannochloropsis strains have been found to be capable of robust growth when supplied with flue gases, naturally accumulating large quantities of oils in a stationary phase, and exhibiting resistance to environmental contaminants. The rich genomic resources, compact genomes, resistance to foreign DNA invasion, wide ecological adaptation, large collections of natural strains and the demonstrated ability to grow on a large scale suggested Nannochloropsis can serve as research models and platform strains for economical and scalable photosynthetic production of fuels and chemicals. To untangle the intricate genome-wide networks underlying the robust biomass accumulation and oil production in Nannochloropsis, we applied high-throughput mRNA-sequencing and reconstructed the structure and dynamics of the genome-wide functional network underlying robust microalgal triacylglycerol (TAG) production in Nannochloropsis oceanica, by tracking the genome-wide, single-base-resolutiontranscript change for the complete time-courses of nitrogen-depletion-induced TAG synthesis.
Project description:Limited systems-level understanding of oil synthesis in wild oleaginous algae has hindered the development of microalgal feedstock. Nannochloropsis is a small unicellular microalgae widely distributed in oceans and fresh water. In many large-scale and pilot-scale outdoor cultivation facilities, Nannochloropsis strains have been found to be capable of robust growth when supplied with flue gases, naturally accumulating large quantities of oils in a stationary phase, and exhibiting resistance to environmental contaminants. The rich genomic resources, compact genomes, resistance to foreign DNA invasion, wide ecological adaptation, large collections of natural strains and the demonstrated ability to grow on a large scale suggested Nannochloropsis can serve as research models and platform strains for economical and scalable photosynthetic production of fuels and chemicals. To untangle the intricate genome-wide networks underlying the robust biomass accumulation and oil production in Nannochloropsis, we applied high-throughput mRNA-sequencing and reconstructed the structure and dynamics of the genome-wide functional network underlying robust microalgal triacylglycerol (TAG) production in Nannochloropsis oceanica, by tracking the genome-wide, single-base-resolutiontranscript change for the complete time-courses of nitrogen-depletion-induced TAG synthesis. Nannochloropsis oceanica IMET1 cells were grown in liquid cultures under continuous light (approximately 50 M-BM-5mol photons m-2 s-1) at 25M-bM-^DM-^C and aerated by bubbling with a mixture of 1.5% CO2 in air. Mid-logarithmic phase algal cells were collected and washed three times with axenic seawater. Equal numbers of cells were re-inoculated in nitrogen replete medium (Control condition or C, i.e. N+) and nitrogen deprived medium (N deficiency or N, i.e. N-) with 50M-BM-5mol m-2 s-1 light intensity, respectively. Cell aliquots were collected for RNA isolation after being transferred to the designated conditions for 3h, 4h, 6h, 12h, 24h and 48h. Three biological replicates of algal cultures were established under each of the above M-bM-^@M-^\CM-bM-^@M-^] (i.e. N+) and M-bM-^@M-^\NM-bM-^@M-^] (i.e. N-) conditions, respectively. In total, 36 samples collected at six time points (3h,4h,6h,12h,24h and 48h) were used for mRNA-Seq library preparation and then submitted to Illumina HiSeq 2000 for sequencing.
Project description:Limited systems-level understanding of CO2 concentrating mechanism (CCM) and metabolic adaption in response to different CO2-level in wild oleaginous algae has hindered the development of microalgal feedstock and the knowledge of its role in global warming and oceanic acidification. Nannochloropsis are a group of small unicellular microalgae widely distributed in oceans and fresh water, which implies that it plays a crucial role in biogeochemical cycles impinged on global climate change. In addition, Nannochloropsis has been used for flue gas fixation in many large-scale and pilot-scale outdoor cultivation facilities for photosynthetic production of fuels and chemicals. To untangle the intricate genome-wide networks underlying CCM and metabolic adjustment under different CO2 concentrations in Nannochloropsis, we applied high-throughput mRNA-sequencing and reconstructed the structure and dynamics of the genome-wide functional network underlying robust microalgal CCM and in Nannochloropsis oceanica, by tracking the genome-wide, single-base-resolution transcript change for the complete time-courses of different CO2 concentrations.