Suboptimal Temperature Acclimation Affects Kennedy Pathway Gene Expression, Lipidome and Metabolite Profile of Nannochloropsis salina during PUFA Enriched TAG Synthesis

In humans, dietary polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are involved in therapeutic processes such as prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases, neuropsychiatric disorders, and dementia. We examined the physiology, PUFA accumulation and glycerol lipid biosynthesis in the marine microalga Nannochloropsis salina in response to constant suboptimal temperature (<20 °C). As expected, N. salina exhibited significantly reduced growth rate and photosynthetic activity compared to optimal cultivation temperature. Total fatty acid contents were not significantly elevated at reduced temperatures. Cultures grown at 5 °C had the highest quantity of eicosapentanoic acid (EPA) (C20:5n3) and the lowest growth rate. Additionally, we monitored broadband lipid composition to model the occurrence of metabolic alteration and remodeling for various lipid pools. We focused on triacylglycerol (TAG) with elevated PUFA content. TAGs with EPA at all three acyl positions were higher at a cultivation temperature of 15 °C. Furthermore, monogalactosyldiacylglycerol and digalactosyldiacylglycerol, which are polar lipids associated with chloroplast membranes, decreased with reduced cultivation temperatures. Moreover, gene expression analysis of key genes involved in Kennedy pathway for de novo TAG biosynthesis revealed bimodal variations in transcript level amongst the temperature treatments. Collectively, these results show that Nannochloropsis salina is a promising source of PUFA containing lipids.