Expression of budding yeast FKBP12 confers rapamycin susceptibility to the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae

TOR (target of rapamycin) is a key regulator of triacylglycerol accumulation in microalgae

“…S1), as has been found in rapamycin treatments. 8,12,13 Effective growth inhibitions, one of the phenotypes of TOR inactivation, 12,13 and abundant LD accumulation were observed in the presence of Torin1 or AZD8055 at a final concentration of 1.0 mM or 2.0 mM, respectively (Fig. 1A and Fig.…”

“…This could have been because of unique characteristics of the C. merolae TOR structure or drug instabilities in the hot, acidic medium used for C. merolae cultivation. 12 It is of note that TAG accumulation and fatty acid composition were variable depending on the applied TOR inhibitor (Figs. 1B and 1C), 8 which suggested that each inhibitor affected TOR activity differently.…”

“…2). 12,13 Under such conditions, cells do not need to synthesize building blocks but alternatively accumulate energy storage compound, TAGs. 6,8 As for lipid synthesis de novo, lipids, such as phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylglycerol, phosphatidylinositol, are synthesized in the endoplasmic reticulum to build cell membranes, and TAG synthesis occurs at endoplasmic reticulum in part through the same pathway (Fig.…”

Construction of a rapamycin-susceptible strain of the unicellular red alga <i>Cyanidioschyzon merolae</i> for analysis of the target of rapamycin (TOR) function

“…Although rapamycin is a powerful tool to reveal the functions of TOR in cell growth and metabolism in eukaryotes, most land plants and algae do not show clear phenotypes against the rapamycin treatment (Crespo et al, 2005;Imamura et al, 2013;Sormani et al, 2007;Xiong and Sheen, 2012;Xiong et al, 2016) which obscures the functions of TOR in these plant lineages. To overcome this problem, we previously constructed a rapamycin-susceptible Cyanidioschyzon merolae F12 strain by expressing the Saccharomyces cerevisiae FKBP12 protein in cells of this alga .…”

Algal Bloom in Aquatic Ecosystems - An Overview

“…All algae are not green and could be observed in a range of colors depending on the dominant pigment in their cells (Imamura et al 2013). For example, if the chlorophyll a is dominant pigment, then the alga color will tend to green.…”