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Engineering the Unicellular Alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum for Enhancing Carotenoid Production

Microalgae represent a promising resource for the production of beneficial natural compounds due to their richness in secondary metabolites and easy cultivation. Carotenoids feature among distinctive compounds of many microalgae, including diatoms, which owe their golden color to the xanthophyll fuc...

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Autores principales: Manfellotto, Francesco, Stella, Giulio Rocco, Falciatore, Angela, Brunet, Christophe, Ferrante, Maria Immacolata
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7465010/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32824292
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antiox9080757
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author Manfellotto, Francesco
Stella, Giulio Rocco
Falciatore, Angela
Brunet, Christophe
Ferrante, Maria Immacolata
author_facet Manfellotto, Francesco
Stella, Giulio Rocco
Falciatore, Angela
Brunet, Christophe
Ferrante, Maria Immacolata
author_sort Manfellotto, Francesco
collection PubMed
description Microalgae represent a promising resource for the production of beneficial natural compounds due to their richness in secondary metabolites and easy cultivation. Carotenoids feature among distinctive compounds of many microalgae, including diatoms, which owe their golden color to the xanthophyll fucoxanthin. Carotenoids have antioxidant, anti-obesity and anti-inflammatory properties, and there is a considerable market demand for these compounds. Here, with the aim to increase the carotenoid content in the model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, we exploited genetic transformation to overexpress genes involved in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. We produced transgenic lines over-expressing simultaneously one, two or three carotenoid biosynthetic genes, and evaluated changes in pigment content with high-performance liquid chromatography. Two triple transformants over-expressing the genes Violaxanthin de-epoxidase (Vde), Vde-related (Vdr) and Zeaxanthin epoxidase 3 (Zep3) showed an accumulation of carotenoids, with an increase in the fucoxanthin content up to four fold. Vde, Vdr and Zep3 mRNA and protein levels in the triple transformants were coherently increased. The exact role of these enzymes in the diatom carotenoid biosynthetic pathway is not completely elucidated nevertheless our strategy successfully modulated the carotenoid metabolism leading to an accumulation of valuable compounds, leading the way toward improved utilization of microalgae in the field of antioxidants.
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spelling pubmed-74650102020-09-04 Engineering the Unicellular Alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum for Enhancing Carotenoid Production Manfellotto, Francesco Stella, Giulio Rocco Falciatore, Angela Brunet, Christophe Ferrante, Maria Immacolata Antioxidants (Basel) Article Microalgae represent a promising resource for the production of beneficial natural compounds due to their richness in secondary metabolites and easy cultivation. Carotenoids feature among distinctive compounds of many microalgae, including diatoms, which owe their golden color to the xanthophyll fucoxanthin. Carotenoids have antioxidant, anti-obesity and anti-inflammatory properties, and there is a considerable market demand for these compounds. Here, with the aim to increase the carotenoid content in the model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, we exploited genetic transformation to overexpress genes involved in the carotenoid biosynthetic pathway. We produced transgenic lines over-expressing simultaneously one, two or three carotenoid biosynthetic genes, and evaluated changes in pigment content with high-performance liquid chromatography. Two triple transformants over-expressing the genes Violaxanthin de-epoxidase (Vde), Vde-related (Vdr) and Zeaxanthin epoxidase 3 (Zep3) showed an accumulation of carotenoids, with an increase in the fucoxanthin content up to four fold. Vde, Vdr and Zep3 mRNA and protein levels in the triple transformants were coherently increased. The exact role of these enzymes in the diatom carotenoid biosynthetic pathway is not completely elucidated nevertheless our strategy successfully modulated the carotenoid metabolism leading to an accumulation of valuable compounds, leading the way toward improved utilization of microalgae in the field of antioxidants. MDPI 2020-08-16 /pmc/articles/PMC7465010/ /pubmed/32824292 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antiox9080757 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Manfellotto, Francesco
Stella, Giulio Rocco
Falciatore, Angela
Brunet, Christophe
Ferrante, Maria Immacolata
Engineering the Unicellular Alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum for Enhancing Carotenoid Production
title Engineering the Unicellular Alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum for Enhancing Carotenoid Production
title_full Engineering the Unicellular Alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum for Enhancing Carotenoid Production
title_fullStr Engineering the Unicellular Alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum for Enhancing Carotenoid Production
title_full_unstemmed Engineering the Unicellular Alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum for Enhancing Carotenoid Production
title_short Engineering the Unicellular Alga Phaeodactylum tricornutum for Enhancing Carotenoid Production
title_sort engineering the unicellular alga phaeodactylum tricornutum for enhancing carotenoid production
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7465010/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32824292
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/antiox9080757
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