Isolation and characterization of the diatom Phaeodactylum Δ5-elongase gene for transgenic LC-PUFA production in Pichia pastoris.

ABSTRACT: The diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum can accumulate eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) up to 30% of the total fatty acids. This species has been targeted for isolating gene encoding desaturases and elongases for long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) metabolic engineering. Here we first report the cloning and characterization of Δ5-elongase gene in P. tricornutum. A full-length cDNA sequence, designated PhtELO5, was shown to contain a 1110 bp open reading frame encoding a 369 amino acid polypeptide. The putative protein contains seven transmembrane regions and two elongase characteristic motifs of FLHXYHH and MYSYY, the latter being typical for microalgal Δ5-elongases. Phylogenetic analysis indicated that PhtELO5 belongs to the ELO5 group, tightly clustered with the counterpart of Thalas

SUBMITTER: Jiang M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3967212 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature