Accepted Manuscript Effect of fulvic acid induction on the physiology, metabolism, and lipid bi osynthesis-r elated gene tr anscr iption of Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 Raoqiong Che, Li Huang, Jun-Wei Xu, Peng Zhao, Tao Li, Huixian Ma, Xuya Yu PII: DOI: Reference:
S0960-8524(16)31668-6 http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2016.12.017 BITE 17393
To appear in:
Bioresource Technology
Received Date: Revised Date: Accepted Date:
15 October 2016 2 December 2016 3 December 2016
Please cite this article as: Che, R., Huang, L., Xu, J-W., Zhao, P., Li, T., Ma, H., Yu, X., Effect of fulvic acid induction on the physiology, metabolism, and lipid biosynthesis-r elated gene tr anscr iption of Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10, Bioresource Technology (2016), doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech. 2016.12.017
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1
Effect of fulvic acid induction on the physiology, metabolism, and
2
lipid biosynthesis-related gene transcription of Monoraphidium sp.
3
FXY-10
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19
Raoqiong Chea1, Li Huangb1, Jun-Wei Xua, Peng Zhaoa, Tao Lia, Huixian Mac, Xuya Yu a* a
Faculty of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, Kunming, China b Institute of Chemical Industry, Kunming Metallurgy College, Kunming, China c School of Foreign Languages, Kunming University, Kunming 650200, China *Corresponding Author:
[email protected] Tel: +086-0871-65920548. 1These authors contributed equally to this work
1
20 21
Abstract
22
Fulvic acid (FA) triggers lipid accumulation in Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10, which
23
can produce biofuels. Therefore, the metabolism shift and gene expression changes
24
influenced by fulvic acid should be investigated. In this study, lipid and protein
25
contents increased rapidly from 44.6% to 54.3% and from 31.4% to 39.7% under FA
26
treatment, respectively. By contrast, carbohydrate content sharply declined from 49.5%
27
to 32.5%. The correlation between lipid content and gene expression was also
28
analyzed. Results revealed that accD, ME, and GPAT genes were significantly
29
correlated with lipid accumulation. These genes could likely influence lipid
30
accumulation and could be selected as modification candidates. These results
31
demonstrated that that FA significantly increased microalgal lipid accumulation by
32
changing the intracellular reactive oxygen species, gene expression, and enzyme
33
activities of acetyl-CoA carboxylase, malic enzyme, and phosphoenolpyruvate
34
carboxylase.
35
Keywords: Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10; fulvic acid; lipid; gene expression; enzyme
36
activity
37
2
38
1. Introduction
39 40
An increasing global demand for a renewable and sustainable energy sources has
41
emerged because of the exhausted usage of fossil fuels. Attempts have been made to
42
use various organisms as feedstock of fatty acid-derived biofuels and chemicals
43
(Chisti, 2007). Biodiesel has also been extensively explored as a promising alternative
44
to petroleum-based fuels because of its environmental adaptability, high oxygen ratio,
45
and excellent ignition properties. Microalgae have been regarded as the most potential
46
biodiesel source because of their fast growth rate, high lipid content, high
47
photosynthesis efficiency, and slight competition with crops for arable land (Chisti,
48
2007; Yu et al., 2012).
49
Among oleaginous microalgae, Monoraphidium species have been widely
50
investigated and have evolved three nutrition modes for growth, namely,
51
photoautotrophy, heterotrophy, and mixotrophy. Moreover, Monoraphidium species
52
can switch their nutritional mode according to their environment. Monoraphidium
53
species can accumulate large quantities of oils, which are ideal precursors for
54
biodiesel production, under certain culture conditions (Yu et al., 2012). Furthermore,
55
the whole genome sequence of Monoraphidium neglectum has been obtained, and a
56
well-developed gene toolbox has been available (Bogen et al., 2013), and these
57
techniques have facilitated studies on lipid biosynthesis at molecular levels. Thus,
58
Monoraphidium species have been considered new oleaginous microalgal models for
59
oil biosynthesis and promising biodiesel feedstock. 3
60
The growth and lipid accumulation of Monoraphidium vary greatly depending
61
on growth conditions, irradiance, and nutrient stress. (Yu et al., 2012; Huang et al.,
62
2014; Zhao et al., 2016). The manipulation of growth conditions can also influence
63
lipid and triacylglycerol (TAG) accumulation in microalgae. Several chemical and
64
physical stimuli, such as light (He et al., 2015; Liu et al., 2012), salinity (Zhao et al.,
65
2016; Yang et al., 2014), temperature (Converti et al., 2009), and nutrient (Hang et al.,
66
2014), have been extensively used to produce microalgae with desirable lipid
67
accumulation. Besides these stimuli, microalgae growth and lipid accumulation are
68
also influenced by plant hormones (Tarakhovskaya et al., 2007). However, the effects
69
of plant hormones on microalgae at a gene level have been poorly described. Studying
70
lipid synthesis from the gene level will be helpful in understanding the molecular
71
mechanism of storage lipid accumulation in hormone-induced conditions of
72
microalgae. In addition, based on varying lipid content, the key genes responsible for
73
the storage lipid biosynthesis can be identified.
74
Fulvic acid (FA) as a plant growth regulator is involved in increasing cell
75
membrane permeability, photosynthesis, oxygen uptake, respiration, and phosphate
76
uptake; FA also controls hormone levels and enhances secondary metabolites (Çimrin
77
et al., 2001). Heil et al. (2004) reported that FA additions resulted in high stimulation,
78
with more than a doubling of growth rate and a five-fold increase in maximum cell
79
yields of the dinoflagellate Prorocentrum minimum. A total of 20 mg L−1 of
80
Microcystis aeruginosa K-5 yield was observed at 20 mg L−1 FA, which is
81
significantly higher than that of control (Ohkubo et al., 2010). FA can significantly 4
82
promote biomass and astaxanthin accumulation in Haematococcus pluvialis (Zhao et
83
al., 2015). FA plays a key role in plant signal transduction, but the function of this
84
plant growth regulator in the molecular mechanism of storage lipid biosynthesis in
85
oleaginous microalgae has yet to be fully described. Microalgal lipid metabolism at
86
biochemical and molecular levels have been comprehensively described, but studies
87
have mostly focused on nutrient stress and several model species, such as
88
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Dunaliella salina (Boyle et al., 2012; Ramanan et al.,
89
2013). Key genes regulating lipid biosynthesis in Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 under
90 91
plant growth regulator-inducing conditions have been rarely identified. Therefore, this
92
study described the time-course changes in the growth and chemical composition of
93
Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 under FA-related. In addition to, the expression of
94
several lipid biosynthesis-related genes was also examined upon exogenous FA
95
application, and correlation analysis was performed to determine the relationship
96
between gene expression and lipid accumulation in Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 and
97
to obtain further information about physiological and molecular changes triggered by
98
FA.
99 100
2. Materials and methods
101
2.1 Microalgae and culture conditions
102 103
Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 (provided by the Biorefinery Laboratory of the Kunming University of Science and Technology) was used in this study (Yu et al., 5
104
2012). The alga was first cultured heterotrophically in 500 mL flasks containing 250
105
mL of sterilized Kuh1 medium. The seed cultured heterotrophically was placed on a
106
reciprocating shaker (150 rpm) and maintained at 25 °C ± 1 °C in the dark for 8 days
107
to deplete the organic carbon source. The heterotrophic cells were collected through
108
centrifugation and re-suspended at a density of about 7 × 107 cells mL−1 in Kuh1
109
medium with 0 and 25 mg L−1 FA for photoautotrophic cultivation. Microalgae were
110
cultured and placed in a shaker (150 rpm) maintained at 25 °C ± 1 °C under
111
continuous fluorescent illumination at 3500 lx for 10 days.
112
2.2 Determination of cell dry weight and lipid content
113
The microalgal biomass was quantified in terms of dry cell weight (DCW) by
114
regulating the relationship between absorbance optical density (OD) 750 nm and
115
DCW, as described previously (Che et al., 2016).
116
Cell biomass was harvested through centrifugation at 12000 × g for 5 min. The
117
wet cell mass was frozen overnight at −70 °C and freeze-dried at −80 °C under
118
vacuum conditions. Total lipids were extracted from lyophilized algal cells, as
119
described by Yu et al. (2012). In brief, freeze-dried microalgal biomass (300 mg to
120
500 mg) was ground into fine powder. The powder was rinsed with 3 mL of
121
chloroform:methanol solution (2:1, v/v). The mixture was incubated at room
122
temperature for 20 min in a shaker (150 rpm) and centrifuged at 8000 × g for 5 min.
123
The supernatant was then transferred to a new tube. This extraction procedure was
124
repeated twice, and all of the resulting supernatants were pooled together. The
125
supernatants were dried at 40 °C in a vacuum oven until constant weight. The total 6
126
lipid content was calculated as the percentage of the total biomass (in % dry weight).
127
2.3 Determination of reactive oxygen species
128
To evaluate the oxidative stress caused by FA addition, the intracellular ROS
129
levels were monitored. ROS were determined using the cell-permeable fluorescent
130
probe 2′,7′-dichlorodihydrofluorescein diacetate (DCFH-DA; Beyotime, China)
131
described by Soo-Jin Heo (Heo et al., 2008) with minor modifications. In brief, 5 mL
132
of the fresh culture was harvested by centrifugation (12000 × g, 3 min). The cells
133
were re-suspended by using 1 mL of DCFH-DA (10 mM) and incubated at room
134
temperature for 30 min in a shaker (150 rpm) under dark condition. The suspension
135
was centrifuged at 12000 g for 5 min at 4 °C and washed twice with the 0.5 M
136
phosphate buffer solution (PBS) to remove the excess fluorescent probe. The average
137
fluorescence density of intracellular cells was measured to index the ROS level. The
138
fluorescence of the samples was determined by using a spectrofluorophotometer
139
(RF-540) with an excitation wavelength of 488 nm and emission band between 500
140
and 600 nm.
141
2.4 Determination of chlorophyll a, protein and carbohydrate contents
142
Chlorophyll a was extracted with dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) and measured by
143
UV-visible spectroscopy in accordance with a previously described method (Wellburn,
144
1994). In the control treatment, no FA was added.
145
FA-induced fresh culture were harvested by centrifugation at 12000 × g for 5 min.
146
The cell pellet was washed twice with distilled water and re-suspended in 1 mL of
147
DMSO. Cellular debris was pelleted (12000 × g, 5 min) following resuspension, and 7
In brief, 2 mL of the control and
148
the absorbance spectrum of the supernatant was measured from 600 nm to 700 nm,
149
DMSO as the reference. Chlorophyll a levels were measured in triplicate, and its
150
concentrations (in µg mL−1) were calculated using the following equation described
151
by Wellburn (1994): ሾChlሿ = ൫12.47xݏܾܣ665.1൯ − (3.62xݏܾܣ649.1)
152
Lyophilized algal powder (10 mg) from the control and FA-induced condition
153
were used for analysis of total carbohydrate content (Ma et al., 2016). The algal
154
powder was incubated in 0.5 mL acetic acid at 80 °C for 20 min and added with 10
155
mL acetone then centrifuged at 3500 g for 10 min. The supernatant was discarded,
156
and the pellet was re-suspended in 2.5 mL 4 M trifluoroacetic acid (TFA) then boiled
157
for 4 h. The suspension was cooled and centrifuged at 10000 g for 3 min. Then, 20 µL
158
of the supernatant was mixed with 900 µL sulfuric acid (15 mL):H2O (7.5 mL):phenol
159
(0.15 g) and boiled for 20 min prior to reading the optical density at 490 nm (OD490).
160
Glucose was used to establish the standard curve and to quantify the total
161
carbohydrate content.
162
Total protein content was extracted and determined as previously described
163
(Berges et al., 1993). Freeze-dried algal powder (10 mg) from the control and
164
FA-induced condition were ground into fine powder, hydrolyzed in 100 µL of 1 M
165
sodium hydroxide, and then incubated in water bath at 80 °C for 10 min.
166
Subsequently, 900 µL of H2O was added to the hydrolysate to obtain the final volume
167
of 1 mL. The mixture was centrifuged at 12000 × g for 30 min, and the supernatant
168
was transferred to a new tube. This extraction procedure was repeated twice, and the 8
169
resulting supernatants were pooled together. The protein concentration was measured
170
with Bradford assay, and bovine serum albumin (BSA) was used as standard.
171
2.5 Cloning and sequencing of lipid biosynthesis-related gene in Monoraphidium sp.
172
FXY-10
173
The nucleotide sequences of seven genes, such as NADP-dependent malic enzyme
174
(ME), acetyl-CoA carboxylase beta subunit (accD), β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase III
175
(KAS III), glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT), diacylglycerol
176
acyltransferase (DGAT1), ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase
177
(RuBisCO) large subunit (rbcL), and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase (PEPC), of
178
different microalgal and plant species were retrieved from NCBI
179
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov) and aligned using ClustalW to find the conserved
180
regions. Primers were designed from the conserved regions by using Primer 5.0 and
181
amplified on the cDNA of Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10. For amplification, PCR
182
reactions were performed in a final volume of 20 µL containing 10 µL of 2× Taq PCR
183
masterMix (Tiangen, China), 1 µL of each primer (10 µM), 2 µL of cDNA, and 6 µL
184
of distilled water. Amplification programs included 94 °C for 5 min, 35 cycles of
185
94 °C for 30s, annealing temperature (50 °C to 61 °C) for 30 s, 72 °C for 3 min and a
186
final extension of 7 min at 72 °C. Then, 6 µL of each PCR product was verified
187
through 1% to 2% agarose gel electrophoresis and anthocyanin staining. The PCR
188
products were recycles with a universal DNA purification kit (Tiangen, China) if the
189
size of the PCR product was right. The recycled products were inserted into T-vector
190
pMD19 (TaKaRa, Japan), cloned in DHAα competent cell (Tiangen, China), and 9
191
sequenced by Sangon Biotech (Shanghai, China). BLAST
192
(http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ Blast) was used to calculate the identities of sequence
193
similarities. The partial coding sequences of the selected genes isolated from
194
Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 are listed in Supplemental Data S1.
195
2.6 cDNA synthesis and Real Time-PCR analysis
196
RNA extractions were performed at 2-day intervals on FA-induced cells 10 days
197
from the beginning of induction. RNA extracted from the cultures without FA in the
198
same time period was used as the control. Total RNA was extracted using TriZol
199
reagent (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s instructions, and the
200
concentration was determined using a Nanodrop 2000 (Thermo). All of the RNA
201
samples were digested with RNAase-free DNAase I (Fermentas) to remove DNA
202
contamination, and cDNA was synthesized using a Superscript RNAse H- first-strand
203
synthesis kit (Invitrogen) according to the manufacturer’s recommendations. The
204
cDNAs from three independent cultures for each time and treatment were subjected to
205
quantitative PCR analysis. Real-time PCR was performed in a 7900HT Fast real-time
206
PCR system (Applied Biosystems, Spain) by using SYBR® Green real-time PCR
207
Master Mix (Toyobo Co., Ltd., Osaka, Japan) according to the manufacturer’s
208
instructions: 1 cycle of 95 °C for 30 s, 40 cycles of 95 °C for 5 s each, 57 °C for 30 s,
209
and 72 °C for 30 s. The 18S rRNA genes were used as internal references to
210
normalize the expression data and to calculate the transcript abundances. The
211
candidate reference genes were constantly expressed under all experimental
212
conditions. Relative fold changes were analyzed using the 2 -∆∆Ct method (Schmittgen 10
213 214
et al., 2008). The primers used for real-time PCR are shown in Table 1. These primers were
215
designed by the gene sequences obtained from Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 in this
216
research. The real-time PCR primers were designed using Primer 5.0 and synthesized
217
by Sangon Biotech (Shanghai, China).
218
2.7 Determination of enzymatic activities
219
Centrifugation (12000g, 5 min at 4 °C) was done to harvest 20 mL of the fresh
220
culture. The cell pellet was washed twice, frozen with liquid nitrogen, and pulverized
221
with pestle and mortar. Enzyme activity was determined subsequently. ME,
222
acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase), and DGAT activity of microalgae were analyzed
223
with colorimetric quantitative detection kit (Ke Ming Co., Suzhou, China) according
224
to manufacturer's instructions. One unit (U) of enzyme activity is defined as the
225
amount of enzyme catalyzing the formation/ consumption of 1 nmol of each
226
enzymatic reaction product/substrate per minute or hour under the aforementioned
227
conditions (Xue et al., 2015).
228
2.8 Statistical analysis
229
Results were shown as the means of the three biological replicates, and the error
230
bars indicated the standard deviation. The statistical significance of the results was
231
evaluated using Student's t-test. Correlation analysis was performed using the
232
Spearman correlation analysis (SPSS19.0). A P-value < 0.05 was considered
233
statistically significant for all of the analysis.
234 11
235 236
3. Results and discussion
237
3.1 Effect of FA on the physiological and biochemical changes of Monoraphidium sp.
238
FXY-10
239
The physiological and biochemical changes underlying FA induction in
240
Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10. The heterotrophic cells were transferred as seed to
241
photoautotrophy and induced with 25 mg L-1 FA. The cell density and intracellular
242
component characteristics were recorded on two separate days and over the
243
cultivation period. The time-course of Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 cell growth in
244
response to FA addition was examined (Fig. 1a). Figure 1a shows that FA addition
245
had an insignificant (p >0.05) effect on biomass concentration compared with the
246
control. This result is in agreement with the previous study. The study showed that
247
when the heterotrophic cells were transferred into photoautotrophic culture and
248
treated with different chemical elicitors, chemical elicitors addition had an
249
insignificant effect (p >0.05) on biomass concentration compared with that of control
250
(Zhao et al., 2016). Cells grown under all the culture conditions displayed continuous
251
growth throughout the culture period. The cell density ranged from 1.83 g L-1 to 2.29
252
g L-1, and 1.83 g L-1 to 2.28 g L-1 on the two different test days, respectively.
253
Photosynthetically fixed carbon can be diverted into multiple pathways for
254
synthesis of major macromolecules, such as carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. The
255
protein content increased continuously both in the FA induction and control samples
256
during the whole culture period (Fig. 1b). Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 rapidly 12
257
synthesized protein in the presence of FA, and protein content increased from 31.4%
258
to 39.7%. Moreover, the protein content increased from 28.8% to 38.9% in the control
259
sample. Figure 1b illustrates the significant (p < 0.05) production of protein observed
260
on the 2nd, 4th, 6th, and 8th induction days with percentage contents of 31.4%, 32.7%,
261
33.7%, and 38.8% for FA-treated cells relative to the control sample. This result is in
262
agreement with that of several studies, which reported that protein content rapidly
263
increases for several hours and then gradually increases until 55% cell dry weight is
264
reached in cells transferred from a heterotrophic mode to a photoautotrophic mode
265
and subjected to illumination (Fan et al., 2012). Previous research has shown that low
266
concentrations of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid can stimulate the increase of
267
chlorophyll and protein in Chlorella vulgaris and Spirulina platensis, whereas high
268
concentrations of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid has a reverse effect. The study
269
indicate that the low concentrations of 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid can promote
270
the photosynthetic efficiency of algae, whereas high concentrations of
271
2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid can inhibit algae photosynthetic efficiency
272
(Saygideger et al., 2008). The increasing rate of protein content was related to light
273
intensity and carbon reallocation of carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins in response to
274
FA induction.
275
Biochemical analyses showed that cell chlorophyll content had a very similar
276
trend to that of protein. Chlorophyll content rapidly increased to 21.46 µg mL-1 during
277
the first 6 days after FA treatment then kept a steady state (approximately 23.06 µg
278
mL-1) until the end of the culture period (Fig. 1c). The cellular chlorophyll content 13
279
increased from 5.25 µg mL−1 to 21.66 µg mL-1 during the first 6 days and steadily
280
increased to 23.88% on day 10 without FA treatment. The chlorophyll synthesis was
281
initially fast then steadied when the seed cultured heterotrophically was transferred to
282
photoautotrophic culture. Fan et al. (2012) indicated that the chlorophyll content in
283
cell initially increased rapidly and then slightly when the cells were briefly transferred
284
into photo-induced phase, reaching 35–40 mg/g DCW after 48-h photoinduction,
285
which is in line with the results of the present study. This may be attributed to the
286
improved photosynthetic efficiency of the cells. The chlorophyll content of
287
FA-treated cells was almost comparable to that of control cells (Fig. 1c) throughout
288
the cultivation period. This phenomenon is different from nitrogen starvation wherein
289
the nitrogen defects result in a sharp reduction in pigments, and this phenomenon is a
290
widespread response to nitrogen depletion in microalgae explained by the nutrient
291
recycling from degradation of structural cell components, such as chloroplast (Fan et
292
al., 2014b). Under FA-treated condition, the cell photosynthetic efficiency was
293
unaffected, and this condition was better than nitrogen stress.
294
Figure 1d illustrates the carbohydrate content variations of the Monoraphidium
295
sp. FXY-10 in FA and control treatments. Under FA-treated condition, the cellular
296
carbohydrate content rapidly increased from 42.65% to 49.54% in the first 4 days,
297
decreased to 33.51% on the 6th day, and remained unchanged thereafter. The cellular
298
carbohydrate content variation trend of the Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 in the control
299
treatment showed slight differences compared with the FA treatment. Carbohydrates
300
continuously decreased throughout most of the time-course, but maintained levels 14
301
between 39.26% and 34.38% of dry weight (Fig. 1d). Figure 1d illustrates the
302
significant (p < 0.01) production of carbohydrates only on the first 4 days for the
303
FA-treated cells relative to the control cells. Compared with that of the control, the
304
stimulatory effect of FA on the carbohydrate content was recorded on the 6th and 8th
305
days, with approximately 3.1% and 3.8% reduction, respectively. Previous study
306
reported a transient increase of starch, followed by a lipid increment accompanied
307
with starch reduction (Fernandes et al., 2013). The carbohydrate content significantly
308
decreased during the lipid increase phase in the present study, which is in line with
309
results reported by Ikaran et al. (2015).
310
Intracellular ROS were detected by DCFH-DA, a fluorescent probe for hydrogen
311
peroxide, and the results were presented as fluorescence intensity in the same number
312
of cells (1x106 number). FA treatment could significantly (p < 0.01) increase the
313
ROS production (Fig. 1e). The ROS production levels upon exposure to FA treatment
314
on the 6th, 8th, and 10th days were 1.46, 1.47, and 1.38 times of the control value,
315
respectively (Fig. 1e). ROS are formed by the inevitable leakage of electrons onto
316
molecular oxygen from the electron transport activities of chloroplasts, mitochondria,
317
and plasma membrane in the plant. ROS production has been found to be stimulated
318
by various environmental stresses, such as exposure to high levels of light, drought,
319
heavy metals, high salt concentration, extremes temperature, UV irradiation,
320
mechanical stress, and physical stress, and also in response to biotic stresses such as
321
invasion of various pathogens (Mallick et al., 2000). As reported by Liu et al. (2012),
322
hypo-osmotic stress (5‰ and 10‰) can significantly increase ROS production, and 15
323
ROS production was increased by 2-fold and 1.7-fold in salinities of 5‰ and 10‰
324
compared with the control cells. Zhao et al. (2016) also reported that the level of ROS
325
increased in cells exposed to light stress with 5 mM glycine betaine, and the ROS
326
content was increased by 29.74% compared to the control on day 1. Similar to glycine
327
betaine, FA is a plant growth regulator which that may enhance the absorption of
328
metal trace elements including iron in microalgae to provoke oxidative stress via the
329
iron-catalyzed Haber–Weiss reaction (Hong et al., 2015).
330
3.2 Effects of FA-induced changes on total lipid accumulation
331
Figure 2 shows the total lipid content variations in FA-induced Monoraphidium
332
sp. FXY-10. The total lipid content increased from 44.3% to 48.4% over a 10-day
333
period, with the maximum lipid level observed on the 6th day. However, in
334
FA-induced condition, a lipid level of 54.3% was obtained on the 6th day, which was
335
a 1.1-fold increase compared with the corresponding day equivalent in the control.
336
Protein, chlorophyll, lipid, and carbohydrate are the main algal cell components, and
337
their contents may be changed and converted during stress. The increase of oil in the
338
case of FA induction might be caused by the degradation of carbohydrates and its
339
conversion into oil (Fig. 1d). Similar variations in biochemical composition attributed
340
to FA induction had also been studied by Han et al. (2012). In their study, the
341
carbohydrate content decreased from 55.3% to 32.8%, whereas the lipid content
342
increased from 9.10% to 28.9%, protein content increased from 32.2% to 34.8%, and
343
chlorophyll increased from 1.22% to 2.26%. Moreover, lipid production was
344
enhanced, possibly because of excessive ROS (Zhao et al., 2016). As shown in Fig. 1e, 16
345
a significant (p < 0.01) ROS production was observed in the FA-induced condition
346
compared with the control condition.
347
3.3. Lipid biosynthesis-related gene expression associated with FA treatment in
348
Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10
349
The changes in gene expression induced by FA for seven lipid
350
biosynthesis-related genes (ME, KAS III, GPAT, DGAT1, accD, rbcL, and PEPC)
351
were quantified through real-time PCR to evaluate lipid regulation as mediated by FA.
352
Gene expression analysis showed that FA induced changes in the expression of rbcL
353
gene from 2 days to 8 days, and the expression was enhanced 2.5 times at the end of
354
two days. This upregulation is consistent with the increment of carbohydrates
355
observed for FA-treated cells during the early period of this experimental (Figs. 1d
356
and 1c). The rbcL gene encodes the catalytic large subunit of RuBisCO, which is a
357
required enzyme that catalyzes initial carbon fixation in the first reaction of the Calvin
358
cycle and is an overall rate-limiting step in photosynthesis (Ikaran et al., 2015).
359
During the photosynthetic process, atmospheric carbon dioxide is fixated by RuBisCO
360
and used to synthesize more energy-dense molecules such as sucrose and lipids (Wan
361
et al., 2011). Carbon dioxide is the exclusive carbon source in photoautotrophy, hence
362
this reaction is the dedicated biosynthetic step to form lipids from carbon dioxide.
363
Thus, the rbcL gene was used to examine the photosynthetic rate in the present study.
364
Wan et al. (2011) reported that the rbcL showed up-expression in both logarithmic
365
and stationary phases of photoautotrophic culture and indicated a higher
366
photosynthetic rate in the logarithmic and stationary phases of photoautotrophic 17
367
culture. Compared with control, FA treatment led to a significant up-regulation of
368
rbcL by 2.5-fold and approximately 1.1-fold to 1.6-fold after 2 days and 6 days of
369
induction, respectively. The present study showed that FA treatment can promote
370
carbon dioxide fixation and improve the photosynthetic efficiency of Monoraphidium
371
sp. FXY-10. This can provide more carbon precursor, which is used in the
372
biosynthesis of the multiple forms of storage compounds, such as water-soluble
373
polysaccharides, starch, and TAG. Therefore, the carbohydrate content increased at in
374
the early stage of FA induction.
375
The expression levels of ME in the FA-treated cells is illustrated in Fig. 3B. The
376
transcript abundance of ME increased significantly in the FA-treated cells compared
377
with that of the control cells, and a 1.3-fold increase was observed on the 4th
378
induction day. ME catalyzes the irreversible oxidative decarboxylation of malate to
379
pyruvate, to produce pyruvate, NADH, and CO2 (Xue et al., 2015). NADH production
380
is vital for fatty acid biosynthesis, which provides the necessary reducing power for
381
cell metabolism. ME has been reported to be involved in diverse metabolic pathways,
382
including lipogenesis, energy metabolism, and photosynthesis. Furthermore, ME is
383
the rate-limiting step in fatty acid biosynthesis in oleaginous fungi (Zhang et al.,
384
2007). The increased expression of ME gene leads to both increased biosynthesis of
385
fatty acids and formation of unsaturated fatty acids (Zhang et al., 2007). Xue et al.
386
(2015) revealed that the overexpression of ME significantly increases the total lipid
387
content by 2.5-fold and reaches 57.8% of dry cell weight. In nitrogen-starved cultures,
388
ME is significantly upregulated during the experiment and closely matches with total 18
389
lipid increase (Ikaran et al., 2015). The stimulatory effect of FA on ME expression
390
observed in the present study implies that ME was significantly up-regulated on the
391
4th day. Consequently, oil rapidly accumulated on the 6th day.
392
The first committed step in fatty acid synthesis, which is the synthesis of
393
malonyl-CoA from acetyl-CoA, is catalyzed by ACCase. Two forms of ACCase are
394
found in plants: the heteromeric form, which plays an exclusive role in de novo fatty
395
acid synthesis in plastids; the homomeric form, which is located in the cytosol. The
396
heteromeric ACCase is composed of four subunits: nuclear-encoded biotin
397
carboxy-carrier, alpha-carboxyltransferase, biotin carboxylase subunits, and
398
beta-carboxyltransferase which is encoded in the plastid genome. The
399
beta-carboxyltransferase (accD) appears to be a good indicator of lipid content
400
(Sasaki et al., 2004). Thus, only the expression pattern of the nuclear-encoded gene
401
for the beta-carboxyltransferase of the heteromeric form (accD) was analyzed in this
402
study. The expression of this gene was affected by FA. Compared with the control,
403
FA treatment significantly up-regulated accD by 1.1- and 1.6-fold in the first 4 days
404
(Fig. 3C). A positive response in the expression of accD genes in relation to lipid
405
accumulation triggered by different induction conditions has been reported in
406
microalgae. In a previous study, N, P, and Fe deficiency can also trigger an increase
407
in accD expression levels (Fan et al., 2014b). Wan et al. (2011) indicated that the
408
increased expression levels of accD reflects the increased lipid content in stationary
409
phase of mixotrophic growth. The results of these studies agree with the present
410
results and suggest a positive correlation between accD gene expression and lipid 19
411
content in Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 (Fig. 2a).
412
The synthesis of short to long saturated acyl chains (C4–C18) involves the
413
condensation of C2 units from malonyl-acyl carrier protein to acyl chains and can be
414
achieved by enzyme complex, β-ketoacyl ACP synthase (KAS I, KAS II, and KAS III)
415
(Fofana et al., 2004). KAS III initiates the fatty acid synthesis in plants by catalyzing
416
the condensation of acetyl-CoA and malonyl-ACP to form 3-ketobutyryl-ACP. In the
417
present study, the expression profile of KAS III gene showed a pattern quite similar to
418
that of ME, with 1.9-fold increase during the first 4 days after FA treatment and being
419
kept under low levels until the end of the culture period (Fig. 3D). This result suggests
420
that FA could induce KAS III gene expression. Sharma et al. (2015) reported that KAS
421
III exhibited upregulated expression in Scenedesmus species (including SD12 and
422
SQ19) under stress conditions and showed higher significance for high lipid content.
423
GPAT is the first enzyme that catalyzes the acylation of glycerol 3-phosphate
424
(G3P) resulting in lysophosphatidic acid (LPA), which is the precursor for the
425
biosynthesis of phosphatidic acid, diacylglycerol (DAG), TAG (Niu et al., 2016).
426
Compared with control, a significant upregulation of GPAT was obtained, with
427
1.2-fold and 1.5-fold increase during the first 4 days of induction (Fig. 3E). GPAT
428
isoforms have been identified in varied species, such as mammals, humans, plants,
429
microalgae, etc. (Niu et al., 2016).
430
Yokoi et al. (1998) reported that expression of Arabidopsis GPAT resulted in
431
increased content of unsaturated fatty acids in transgenic rice compared to wild type.
432
Expression of Brassica napus GPAT resulted in increased oil content in transgenic 20
433
tobacco (Liu et al., 2015). Fatty acid content was increased in the transgenic green
434
microalga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, expressing Lobosphaera incisa GPAT, and
435
resulted in increased TAG accumulation (Iskandarov et al., 2016). Similarly, induced
436
expression of Helianthus annuus GPAT in transgenic Escherichia coli resulted in
437
increased unsaturated fatty acid content (Payá-Milans et al., 2015). Niu et al. reported
438
that the number of oil bodies is similar in both transgenic and wild type cells, whereas
439
the volume of oil bodies in transgenic cells is considerably increased and larger than
440
in wild type (Niu et al., 2016). The present result is in agreement with the results of
441
the aforementioned studies, that is, upregulation GPAT is consistent with the increase
442
of lipid content in Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 during the early FA induction period
443
(2 days to 4 days).
444
The final step in de novo TAG biosynthesis is catalyzed by DGAT that transfers
445
the third fatty acid to position 3 of DAG, resulting in the production of triacylglycerol.
446
DGATs has been identified as one of the rate limiting enzymes for TAG accumulation
447
in some oil-producing plants. In algae, DGATs have at least two major families,
448
namely, type 1 and type 2. Type 1 and type 2 DGATs do not share any significant
449
similarities in amino acid sequence although both catalyze the same enzymatic
450
reaction. DGAT1 and DGAT2 also have differences in functionality and temporal and
451
spatial expression profiles (Chen et al., 2012). In the present study, the expression of
452
DGAT1 gene insignificantly increased under FA-induced conditions (Fig. 3F).
453
DGAT1 gene in Chlamydomonas was expressed at relatively low levels and was not
454
affected by nitrogen depletion (Msanne et al., 2012). On the contrary, DGAT1 gene 21
455
showed a significant up-regulation at 72 h, just before the observed TAG rise (Ikaran
456
et al., 2015). The up-regulation of DGAT1 gene linked to TAG accumulation has also
457
been described in C. reinhardtii and C. vulgaris and the diatom Phaeodactylum
458
tricornutum (Miller et al., 2010; Ikaran et al., 2015). DGAT1 expression is different in
459
diverse microalgae and appears to be species specific. Additionally, DGAT1
460
expression was also affected by N, Fe, and P starvation, illumination, and training
461
phase (Fan et al. 2014a; Fan et al. 2014b).
462
PEPCase is a ubiquitous cytoplasmic enzyme present in a wide spectrum of
463
organisms, including archaea, bacteria, unicellular green algae, and vascular plants
464
(Ikaran et al., 2015; Fan et al., 2014a). This enzyme catalyzes the irreversible
465
carboxylation of phosphoenolpyruvate (PEP) to oxaloacetate (OAA) that feeds the
466
Krebs cycle, providing the precursors and energy needed for several metabolic
467
pathways including protein synthesis (Ikaran et al., 2015). There are evidences
468
supporting that PEPCase activity is related to carbon flux into lipids (Ikaran et al.,
469
2015). Chen et al. (1998) reported that oil content increased by 6.4% to 18% in
470
transgenic rapeseed lines, in which the expression of PEPC was blocked by antisense
471
RNA. Fan et al. (2014a) demonstrated that the expression of pepc g6833 increases by
472
3.1 times at the end of the growth stage but decreases rapidly in the oil-accumulation
473
stage. The expression levels of PEPC in the FA-treated cells are illustrated in Fig. 3G.
474
The expression of PEPC increased by 1.14 and 1.71 times on the 4th and 6th days of
475
FA treatment but decreased rapidly during late induction. This result is in agreement
476
with that of several studies reporting that the expression of PEPC is upregulated in the 22
477
early induction period (Ikaran et al., 2015; Fan et al., 2014a). The molecular
478
mechanism in the microalgae is still unclear at present.
479
3.4 Correlations between gene expression and lipid content
480
The Spearman correlation analysis (using SPSS 19.0) was carried out to
481
determine the relevance between key gene expression level and lipid accumulation
482
under FA treatment conditions. The relation between gene transcription and lipid
483
content was concluded, and an insight into the potential targets was given in this study,
484
thereby providing an overall perspective on the potential mechanism of the lipid
485
accumulation response to FA induction. The relationship between gene expression
486
levels and the lipid biosynthesis was analyzed. Several gens, viz. pepc, DGAT1, KAS
487
III and rbcL showed insignificant (p >0.05) correlation with lipid accumulation.
488
Several genes that may play a primary role in lipid accumulation could be selected as
489
promising candidates for further genetic engineering. The analysis results also shows
490
that several genes (ME, accD, and GPAT) were significantly (p <0.05) correlated with
491
lipid accumulation. These genes encode the corresponding isoenzymes of
492
NADP-dependent ME, ACCase, and GPAT in the de novo TAG biosynthesis
493
pathway, and these isoenzymes likely influence lipid accumulation and thus could be
494
selected as modification candidates.
495
3.5. Biochemical activities of some key enzymes involved in Monoraphidium sp.
496
FXY-10 lipid biosynthesis
497 498
The ACC, ME, and PEPC activities in the FA-treated cells were determined to investigate the relevance between key enzymatic activity and lipid accumulation. 23
499
The correlation between ACCase activity and fatty acid synthesis of
500
Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 under FA-treated conditions was determined. Figure 4A
501
shows the time course measurement of ACCase activity. As shown in Fig. 4A,
502
significant (p < 0.01) improvement in ACCase activity was observed on the whole
503
culture process for FA-treated cells relative to the control sample. ACCase is the first
504
committed enzyme for fatty acid synthesis leading to the carboxylation of acetyl-CoA
505
to form malonyl-CoA, and this step is indeed the rate-limiting step for fatty acid
506
biosynthesis (Fan et al., 2014a; Courchesne et al., 2009). Numerous studies have
507
shown that this caused an increase of the intracellular ACCase activity as a result of
508
enhanced fatty acid synthesis rate (Fan et al., 2014a; Courchesne et al., 2009; Ma et
509
al., 2016). Ma et al. (2016) reported that the highest oil content was obtained under
510
high light and nitrogen-deficient conditions, and ACCase activity increased by 3-fold,
511
which was much more than under low light and nitrogen-deficient conditions or high
512
light and nitrogen-adequate conditions (Ma et al., 2016). Considering the comparative
513
analysis of previous studies and our research results, we hypothesized that ACCase is
514
a key enzyme in the fatty acid synthesis of Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10.
515
ME has been postulated as the rate-limiting step for fatty acid biosynthesis, and
516
this enzyme catalyzes the conversion of malate into pyruvate and simultaneously
517
reduces NADP+ into NADPH (Ma et al., 2016). The importance of ME is dependent
518
on its capability to promote NADPH production and thus provides a unique source of
519
reducing power and cofactors for fatty acid synthesis (Xue et al., 2015; Courchesne et
520
al., 2009). The levels of ME were examined in cells cultured for 10 days under 24
521
FA-treated conditions, and these levels were increased remarkably in the first 6 days
522
(Fig. 4B). The ME enzymatic activities of Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 on days 2, 4,
523
and 6 were increased by 2.1-, 4-, and 2.7-fold in the FA-treated culture than in the
524
control culture. The increased ME activity in the early induction phase provides more
525
NADPH for the oil accumulation in the later induced stage. Lipid content is enhanced
526
approximately by 2-fold, and ME is increased by a 3.5-fold (Xue et al., 2015). An
527
increase in ME activity is associated with a faster lipid accumulation (Courchesne et
528
al., 2009). The results of this study showed the same phenomenon, that is, the lipid
529
accumulation of Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 under FA-treated conditions was
530
associated with the ME activity.
531
The PEPC activity was determined to understand the role of the PEPCase in fatty
532
acid synthesis in Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 under FA treatment (Fig. 4D). The
533
enzyme activity level during FA treatment decreased by 1.4-fold to 1.8-fold in the
534
whole cultivation process. This finding indicated the negative role of increased PEPC
535
activity in fatty acid synthesis. Furthermore, Deng et al. (2014) reported that a
536
157%–184% increase in PEPCase activity leads to a 37% decrease in the TAG
537
content.
538
In the current study, the expression level of accD, PEPC, and ME was increased
539
in FA treatments. Compared with that in the control, in FA-induced conditions, the
540
ACCase and ME activities were significantly increased, whereas the PEPCase activity
541
was significantly reduced. However, in FA-treated conditions, the biochemical
542
activities of some lipid synthesis enzymes were inconsistent with the expression of 25
543
related genes. Chang et al. (2013) reported that the expression levels of starch
544
metabolism-related genes were inconsistent with activities of starch
545
metabolism-related enzymes, which is in line with the results of the present study.
546
The expression of enzyme genes is not directly related to enzyme activity.
547
Up-regulation of gene expression only indicates high number of synthetic peptides.
548
However, from the peptide chain to the enzyme has been restrained by some factors,
549
thereby directly affecting enzyme levels. Thus, gene expression and enzyme activity
550
presented different trends in FA-induced conditions
551 552
4. Conclusions
553
This study showed that FA addition altered cell physiology and metabolism.
554
Furthermore, the expression of seven key lipid biosynthesis-related genes increased to
555
varying degrees. Under FA addition, ACCase and ME activities were considerably
556
up-regulated, whereas the PEPCase activity was significantly down-regulated. This
557
finding was correlated well with the enhanced lipid accumulation. Our results help
558
enhance our understanding of the underlying molecular changes in response to FA
559
and provide insights into the regulatory mechanism of lipid metabolism in
560
Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10. The mechanism by which FA regulates lipid
561
biosynthesis is yet to be fully understood and needs further investigation.
562 563 564 565
Acknowledgements This work was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21266013 and 21666012), the Natural Science Foundation of Yunnan Province, 26
566
China (2010CD028).
567 568
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30
Figure captions
723 724 725
Fig. 1. Time course of biomass (a), protein (b), Chl a (c), and carbohydrate content (d),
726
reactive oxygen species (ROS) (e) of Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 under fulvic acid
727
induced conditions. Vertical bars represent the means ± SD (n= 3). Single asterisks
728
denote statistically significant (p < 0.05) whilst double asterisks denote statistically
729
significant (p < 0.01).
730 731
Fig. 2. The lipid content of Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 cultivated for 10 days under
732
fulvic acid induced conditions. Vertical bars represent the means ± SD (n= 3). Single
733
asterisks denote statistically significant (p < 0.05) whilst double asterisks denote
734
statistically significant (p < 0.01).
735 736
Fig.3. Expression of lipid biosynthesis-related genes in Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10
737
under fulvic acid induced conditions. (A) ribulose 1, 5-bisphosphate
738
carboxylase/oxygenase(RuBisCO), rbcL; (B) Malic enzyme, ME; (C) acetyl-CoA
739
carboxylase beta subunit, accD; (D) β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase, KAS III; (E)
740
glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase, GPAT; (F) Diacylglyrerol acyltransferase,
741
DGAT; (G) Phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase, PEPC. Vertical bars represent the
742
means ± SD (n= 3).
743 744
Fig. 4. Time course of ACC (a), ME (b), and PEPC (c) enzyme activity of
745
Monoraphidium sp. FXY-10 under fulvic acid induced conditions. Vertical bars
746
represent the means ± SD (n= 3). Single asterisks denote statistically significant (p <
747
0.05) whilst double asterisks denote statistically significant (p < 0.01).
31
(a)
Control FA
Biomass (DWL-1)
2.2
2.1
2.0
1.9
1.8
(b)
Control FA
40
Protein (%, dry biomass weight)
2.3
**
38
36
**
34
** 32
**
30
28
0
2
4
6
8
10
2
4
6
8
10
Induction time (day)
Induction time (day) 54
(c)
Contorl FA
24 22
50
20
(d) **
Carbohydrate (% DW)
48
18
Chl a (µ g/mL)
Control FA
52
16 14 12 10
46 44
**
42 40 38 36
8
**
34 6 32
**
4 2
4
6
8
2
10
1200
**
1000
6
DCF-fluorescence intensity (1×10 cell)
(e)
Control FA
1100
900
**
800 700 600
**
500 400 300 200 2
4
6
8
10
Induction time (day)
748
4
6
Induction time (day)
Induction time (day)
Che et al. Fig. 1
749
32
8
10
58
Control FA
56
**
54
Lipid content (%)
52 50 48
**
46
**
44 42 40 38 36 2
4
6
Induction time (day)
750
Che et al. Fig. 2
751
33
8
10
A
3.0
B
rbcL
1.4
me
1.2
Relative expression level
Relative expression level
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2
0.0
0.0 2
4
6
8
10
2
4
Cultivation time (day) C
2.0
accD
1.8
6
8
10
Cultivation time (day) D
KAS III
2.0
Relative expression level
Relative expression level
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
0.2 0.0 2
4
6
8
2
10
Cultivation time (day) E
8
10
DGAT1
1.1 1.0
Relative expression level
1.4
Relative expression level
6
Cultivation time (day) F
1.2
GPAT
1.6
4
1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4
0.9 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2
2
4
6
8
10
2
2.0
pepc
1.8
Relative expression level
1.6 1.4 1.2 1.0 0.8 0.6 0.4 0.2 0.0 2
4
6
8
10
Cultivation time (day)
752
4
6
8
Cultivation time (day)
Cultivation time (day) G
Che et al. 34 Fig. 3
10
B
Control FA
220 200 180
**
160
**
140
**
**
120 100 2
4
6
8
ME enzyme activity (mmol/min/g wet weight)
ACC enzyme activity(µ mol/h/g fresh weight)
A
4.5 4.0
** 3.5 3.0 2.5 2.0 1.5
0.0
10
2
PEPC enzyme activity (nmol/min/g wet weight)
C
200 180
**
**
140
**
120
** 100
**
80 60 2
4
6
8
10
Induction time (day)
753 754
4
6
Induction time (day)
220
160
*
0.5
Control FA
240
**
1.0
Induction time (day) 260
Control FA
Che et al. Fig. 4
35
8
10
755
Table 1
756
Genes involved in fatty acid and triacylglycerol biosynthetic pathway in Monoraphidium sp.
757
FXY-10 and their respective primers used in qRT-PCR expression analysis Gene 18s RNA
Gene abb 18s RNA
primer GGGAGTATGGTCGCAAGG
Annealing
Length (bp) of
temp [°C]
production
57
242
57
110
57
292
57
209
57
326
57
291
57
125
57
213
GACTATTTAGCAGGCTGAGGT Malic enzyme
ME
TCGGCGTGAGCACTATCGGTG CGGACTGGTTGGTGGGGTTG
Phosphoenolpyruvate
PEPC
carboxylase Diacylglycerol
CGCAGCACCTCCGCCTTTGT DGAT1
acyltransferase Ribulose1,5-bisphosphate
rbcL
GTACCTGCCCAACCTCACCG GCACCAGCATGGACACCACC
GPAT
acyltransferase β-ketoacyl-ACP synthase
CAAGCCGCTCGCCCAGAT TCCACAGCCGCCAGAACT
carboxylase/oxygenase glycerol-3-phosphate
CCATCCCCTGGGTGTTTGCC
GTGGTGTTCCGCTACGC GAACGCCGAGTAGGAGG
KAS
III
TGCCAGACACCATCACAAACT TGACGCCAGCGATTACAGC
acetyl-CoA carboxylase beta subunit
accD
GGGCGTGATGGAGTTTG AGGTTGGCCTCGTTCTG GGCTCCTTCTTGGCAATG
758 759
36
760
ROS
Chlorophyll a Inoculating
Gene expression
Fresh algae Enzymatic activity
Heterotrophic cells Adding
Fulvic acid
Lyophilized algal powder Lipid Photoautotrophic induction culture by fulvic acid
Protein Carbohydrate
761
37
762
1.
FXY-10 accumulated a considerable amount of lipids under FA induction.
763
2.
Lipid and protein contents increased rapidly and carbohydrate content sharply declined.
764 765
3.
ME, accD and GPAT were significantly correlated with lipid accumulation.
766
4.
ACCase, ME, PEPCase activities were related to lipid accumulation.
767
5.
FA-induced strategy could be developed to produce microalgal lipids efficiently.
768 769
38