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Abstract
We compared the relative importance of dietary factors versus de novo synthesis in determin- ing the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) composi- tion of the heterotrophic nanoflagellate Paraphyso- monas sp. The flagellate was fed with different mutants of the picocyanobacterial strain Synechocystis PCC6803, which differ in their capability to synthe- size specific PUFAs. The desA, desB, and desD genes of Synechocystis PCC6803 encode lipid desaturases at the Δ12, Δ15, and Δ6 positions of 18C fatty acids (FAs), respectively. Thus, the use of desA - , desB - , desD - , and desA - /des D - mutants of Synechocystis PCC6803 as food sources permitted us to provide the heterotrophic flagellate with decreasing levels of unsaturated FAs. In each treatment, Paraphysomonas sp. exhibited the same FA composition pattern, i.e. high levels of 16:0 and 18:1, and significant amounts of 18C PUFAs and long-chain PUFAs such as 20:4(n-6), 20:5(n-3), and 22:6(n-3), which indicated that Paraphysomonas sp. is capable of synthesizing these PUFAs de novo. Results also showed that dietary 18C PUFAs seem to be preferentially accu- mulated in Paraphysomonas sp. lipids. This demon- strates that heterotrophic protists could play a key role in transferring essential compounds from pri- mary producers to metazoan consumers.
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