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2019/8/8

Tokyo Institute of Technology and others discover factors that control algae oil production

University Journal Online Editorial Department

　The research group of Dr. Nuru Akmaria Hidayati of Tokyo Institute of Technology (Kyoto University, Tohoku University, Kazusa DNA Research Institute) is a kind of algae, clamidmonas, which is an oil that occurs when phosphorus and nitrogen are deficient. We have discovered a factor that controls accumulation.By modifying the control factors, it is expected to be used in a mechanism to freely control oil production.

　So far, useful lipids have been produced mainly from petroleum resources.In order to get rid of the high dependence on petroleum resources, it is expected to be produced by substituting with photosynthetic algae and biofuels produced by plants, and is being studied all over the world.Among them, algae have the advantages of high productivity per unit area and not competing with food crops.

　Using the model alga Chlamydomonas, the research group comprehensively searched for candidates for transcription factors whose gene expression occurs in synchronization with the gene DGTT1 which is the enzyme responsible for the final stage of oil synthesis.Among them, the gene for the transcription factor LRL1 that is strongly expressed especially when a large amount of oil is accumulated after the transition to the phosphorus deficiency condition was found as a candidate and analyzed.As a result, it was found that all the mutants greatly suppressed the oil accumulation observed during phosphorus deficiency.

　Furthermore, in these variants, cell division is promoted and the cell size is reduced when nutrients are sufficient, and cell proliferation is suppressed when nutrients are deficient, and the color of cells is higher than that of the wild type. It turned out that it turned a little light green.It was also found that LRL1 directly regulates the dynamic changes in lipid metabolism that occur during phosphorus deficiency.

　In the future, it is expected that by utilizing the functional mechanism of LRL1 and the utilization of LRL1 itself, it will be possible to construct a mechanism for freely inducing and accumulating useful lipids that are desired to be mass-produced in algae at the required time.

Paper information:[The Plant Journal] LIPID REMODELING REGULATOR 1 (LRL1) is differently involved in the phosphorus-depletion response from PSR1 in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

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