BackgroundXanthophylls, oxygenated derivatives of carotenes, play critical roles in photosynthetic apparatus of cyanobacteria, algae, and higher plants. Although the xanthophylls biosynthetic pathway of algae is largely unknown, it is of particular interest because they have a very complicated evolutionary history. Carotenoid hydroxylase (CHY) is an important protein that plays essential roles in xanthophylls biosynthesis. With the availability of 18 sequenced algal genomes, we performed a comprehensive comparative analysis of chy genes and explored their distribution, structure, evolution, origins, and expression.ResultsOverall 60 putative chy genes were identified and classified into two major subfamilies (bch and cyp97) according to their domain structures. Genes in the bch subfamily were found in 10 green algae and 1 red alga, but absent in other algae. In the phylogenetic tree, bch genes of green algae and higher plants share a common ancestor and are of non-cyanobacterial origin, whereas that of red algae is of cyanobacteria. The homologs of cyp97a/c genes were widespread only in green algae, while cyp97b paralogs were seen in most of algae. Phylogenetic analysis on cyp97 genes supported the hypothesis that cyp97b is an ancient gene originated before the formation of extant algal groups. The cyp97a gene is more closely related to cyp97c in evolution than to cyp97b. The two cyp97 genes were isolated from the green alga Haematococcus pluvialis, and transcriptional expression profiles of chy genes were observed under high light stress of different wavelength.ConclusionsGreen algae received a β-xanthophylls biosynthetic pathway from host organisms. Although red algae inherited the pathway from cyanobacteria during primary endosymbiosis, it remains unclear in Chromalveolates. The α-xanthophylls biosynthetic pathway is a common feature in green algae and higher plants. The origination of cyp97a/c is most likely due to gene duplication before divergence of green algae and higher plants. Protein domain structures and expression analyses in green alga H. pluvialis indicate that various chy genes are in different manners response to light. The knowledge of evolution of chy genes in photosynthetic eukaryotes provided information of gene cloning and functional investigation of chy genes in algae in the future.

BackgroundPhotosynthetic oleaginous microalgae are promising feedstocks for biofuels. Acyl-CoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferases (DGATs) represent rich sources for engineering microalgal lipid production. The principal activity of DGATs has been defined as a single-function enzyme catalyzing the esterification of diacylglycerol with acyl-CoA.ResultsA dual-function PtWS/DGAT associated with diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum is discovered in the current study. Distinctive to documented microalgal DGAT types, PtWS/DGAT exhibits activities of both a wax ester synthase (WS) and a DGAT. WS/DGATs are broadly distributed in microalgae, with different topology and phylogeny from those of DGAT1s, DGAT2s, and DGAT3s. In vitro and in vivo assays revealed that PtWS/DGAT, functioning as either a WS or a DGAT, exhibited a preference on saturated FA substrate. Endogenous overexpression of PtWS/DGAT demonstrated that the DGAT activity was dominant, whereas the WS activity was condition dependent and relatively minor. Compared with the wild type (WT), overexpression of PtWS/DGAT in the diatom resulted in increased levels of total lipids (TL) and triacylglycerol (TAG) regardless of nitrogen availability. The stability and scalability of the introduced traits were further investigated at a 10-L photobioreactor, where the mutant growth resembled WT, with moderately increased productivity of TL and TAG. Furthermore, the production of wax esters increased considerably (from undetectable levels to 2.83%) under nitrogen-deplete conditions.ConclusionsPtWS/DGAT is a bifunctional enzyme and may serve as a promising target for the engineering of microalga-based oils and waxes for future industrial use.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (10.1186/s13068-018-1029-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

The objective of this research was to establish a chloroplast transformation technique for Platymonas (Tetraselmis) subcordiformis. Employing the gfp gene as a reporter and the bar gene as a selectable marker, transformation vectors of P. subcordiformis chloroplast were constructed with endogenous fragments rrn16S–trnI (left) and trnA–rrn23S (right) as a recombination site of the chloroplast genome. The plasmids were transferred into P. subcordiformis via particle bombardment. Confocal laser scanning microscopy indicated that the green fluorescence protein was localized in the chloroplast of P. subcordiformis, confirming the activity of the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii promoter. Cells transformed with the bar gene were selected using the herbicide Basta. Resistant colonies were analyzed by PCR and Southern blotting, and the results indicated that the bar gene was successfully integrated into the chloroplast genome via homologous recombination. The technique will improve genetic engineering of this alga.

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In this study, a cDNA encoding a novel acylCoA:diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT)-like protein is identified and isolated from the diatom microalga Phaeodactylum tricornutum (PtDGAT3). Analysis of the sequence reveals that ptDGAT3 cDNA encodes a protein of 504 amino acids with a molecular mass of 64.5 KDa. The putative ptDGAT3 protein has two catalytic domains: a wax ester synthase-like acyl-CoA acyltransferase domain and a bacteria-specific acyltransferase domain, which shows higher similarity to the DGAT3 of Acinetobacter calcoaceticus than reported DGAT1 or DGAT2 from high plants or algae. Its activity was confirmed by heterologous expression of PtDGAT3 in a neutral lipid-deficient quadruple mutant yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae H1246. The recombinant yeast restored the formation of a lipid body and displayed a preference to the incorporation of unsaturated C 18 fatty acids into triacyglycerol (TAG). This is the first characterized algal DGAT3 gene, giving further evidence to the occurrence of a DGAT3-mediated TAG biosynthesis pathway.

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