Abstract
Serine/threonine kinases (STKs) play important roles in prokaryotic cellular functions such as growth, differentiation, and secondary metabolism. When the external environment changes, prokaryotes rely on signal transduction systems, including STKs that quickly sense these changes and alter gene expression to induce the appropriate metabolic changes. In this study, we examined the roles of the STK genes spkD and spkG in fatty acid biosynthesis in the unicellular cyanobacterium Synechocystis sp. PCC6803, using targeted gene knockout. The linoleic acid (C18: 2), γ-linolenic acid (C18: 3n6), α-linolenic acid (C18: 3n3), and stearidonic acid (C18: 4) levels were significantly lower in spkD and spkG gene knockout mutants than in the wild type at a culture temperature of 30°C and a light intensity of 40 μmol⋅m–2⋅s–1. The expression levels of fatty acid desaturases and STK genes differed between the spkD and spkG gene knockout mutants. These observations suggest that spkD and spkG may directly or indirectly affect the fatty acid composition in Synechocystis sp. PCC6803 by regulating the expression of fatty acid desaturases genes. Therefore, the STK genes spkD and spkG play important roles in polyunsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis in Synechocystis sp. PCC6803. These findings could facilitate the development of cyanobacteria germplasm resources that yield high levels of fatty acids. In addition, they provide a theoretical basis for the genetic engineering of cyanobacteria with improved yields of secondary metabolites and increased economic benefits.
Highlights
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are fatty acids with multiple unsaturated bonds
There have been related reports showing that spkG plays an important role in STKs (Liang et al, 2011), and we obtained two knockout mutants, spkG and spkD. These findings suggest that spkD and spkG play important roles in unsaturated fatty acid biosynthesis in Synechocystis sp
We further studied the role of spkD and spkG in PUFA biosynthesis in Synechocystis sp
Summary
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are fatty acids with multiple unsaturated bonds (any number of carbon atoms). Long chain PUFAs has multiple unsaturated bonds and more than 18 carbon atoms in the fatty acid chain. PUFAs are divided into multiple categories based on the position where the unsaturated bond starts relative to the methyl end of the fatty acid carbon chain, using. Ω-3 and ω-6 PUFAs play important roles in various organisms (Mayra et al, 2020). In addition to having important physiological functions, these PUFAs, including linoleic acid (C18: 2), α-linolenic acid (C18: 3n3), γ-linolenic acid (C18: 3n6), stearidonic acid (C18: 4), arachidonic acid (C20: 4n6), eicosapentaenoic acid (C20: 5), and docosahexaenoic acid (C22: 6), have high nutritional and medicinal value. The large-scale industrialization of PUFAs would provide a solution to the PUFA supply and demand (Jan et al, 2010)
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