Lipid production in Chlorella protothecoides (1000.2)

Abstract

Depleting fossil fuel supply has prompted increased demand for the discovery of an alternative energy resource. Our study seeks to identify the genes that control lipid production, as well as, the regulation of these genes in Chlorella Protothecoides. To define gene expression profiles in lipid producing algae, Next Generation Sequencing was performed on total RNA extracted from algae grown in growth conditions (nitrogen sufficient) verses algae grown in lipid producing conditions (nitrogen deficient). Lipid production in nitrogen deficient was confirmed using Bodipy 505/515 staining, analyzed by flow cytometry. Next Generation Sequencing data yielded distinct algal gene expression profiles for both lipid producing and growth conditions. Blast analysis of differentially regulated mRNA sequences revealed several known genes likely to be involved in lipid production and 8 yet to be identified genes. Candidate genes were further analyzed by TaqMan to determine relative expression levels. We have established expression profiles of 10 of these candidate genes, which can be used as markers to identify different environmental condition which optimize lipid production.