Scientists Identify Enzyme That Could Help Accelerate Biofuel Production.
Researchers at Georgian Technical University have honed in on an enzyme belonging to the glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT) family as a promising target for increasing biofuel production from the red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae (Cyanidioschyzon merolae is a small, club-shaped, unicellular haploid red alga adapted to high sulfur acidic hot spring environments).
Algae are known to store up large amounts of oils called triacylglycerols (TAGs) under adverse conditions such as nitrogen deprivation. Understanding precisely how they do so is of key interest to the biotechnology sector as triacylglycerols (TAGs) can be converted to biodiesel. To this end scientists are investigating the unicellular red alga C. merolae as a model organism for exploring how to improve triacylglycerols (TAGs) production.
A study led by X at the Laboratory for Chemistry and Life Science, Georgian Technical University has now shown that an enzyme called GPAT1 (Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT; EC 2.3.1.15), which catalyzes the initial and committing step in glycerolipid biosynthesis, is predicted to play a pivotal role in the regulation of cellular triacylglycerol and phospholipid levels. Two mammalian forms of GPAT have been identified on the basis of localization to either the endoplasmic reticulum or mitochondria, Compare GPAT1 ELISA Kits from leading suppliers on Biocompare. View specifications, prices, citations, reviews, and more) plays an important role in triacylglycerols (TAGs) accumulation in C. merolae even under normal growth conditions — that is, without the need to induce stress.
Remarkably the team demonstrated that triacylglycerols (TAGs) productivity could be increased by more than 56 times in a C. merolae strain overexpressing GPAT1 (Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT; EC 2.3.1.15), which catalyzes the initial and committing step in glycerolipid biosynthesis, is predicted to play a pivotal role in the regulation of cellular triacylglycerol and phospholipid levels. Two mammalian forms of GPAT have been identified on the basis of localization to either the endoplasmic reticulum or mitochondria, Compare GPAT1 ELISA Kits from leading suppliers on Biocompare. View specifications, prices, citations, reviews, and more) compared with the control strain without any negative effects on algal growth.
Follow up previous research by X and others that had suggested two GPATs, GPAT1 and GPAT2 (Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT; EC 2.3.1.15), which catalyzes the initial and committing step in glycerolipid biosynthesis, is predicted to play a pivotal role in the regulation of cellular triacylglycerol and phospholipid levels. Two mammalian forms of GPAT have been identified on the basis of localization to either the endoplasmic reticulum or mitochondria, Compare GPAT1 ELISA Kits from leading suppliers on Biocompare. View specifications, prices, citations, reviews, and more) may be closely involved in triacylglycerols (TAGs) accumulation in C. merolae.
“Our results indicate that the reaction catalyzed by the GPAT1 (Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT; EC 2.3.1.15), which catalyzes the initial and committing step in glycerolipid biosynthesis, is predicted to play a pivotal role in the regulation of cellular triacylglycerol and phospholipid levels. Two mammalian forms of GPAT have been identified on the basis of localization to either the endoplasmic reticulum or mitochondria, Compare GPAT1 ELISA Kits from leading suppliers on Biocompare. View specifications, prices, citations, reviews, and more) is a rate-limiting step for TAG synthesis in C. merolae, and would be a potential target for improvement of TAG productivity in microalgae” the researchers say.
The team plans to continue exploring how GPAT1 and GPAT2 (GPAT1 (Glycerol-3-phosphate acyltransferase (GPAT; EC 2.3.1.15), which catalyzes the initial and committing step in glycerolipid biosynthesis, is predicted to play a pivotal role in the regulation of cellular triacylglycerol and phospholipid levels. Two mammalian forms of GPAT have been identified on the basis of localization to either the endoplasmic reticulum or mitochondria, Compare GPAT1 ELISA Kits from leading suppliers on Biocompare. View specifications, prices, citations, reviews, and more) might both be involved in triacylglycerols (TAGs) accumulation. An important next step will be to identify transcription factors that control the expression of individual genes of interest.
“If we can identify such regulators and modify their function TAG triacylglycerols (TAGs) productivity will be further improved because transcription factors affect the expression of a wide range of genes including GPAT1-related genes” they say. “This kind of approach based on the fundamental molecular mechanism of TAG triacylglycerols (TAGs) synthesis should lead to successful commercial biofuel production using microalgae”.