UNS: Understanding the Prokaryotic Pathways for Triacylglycerol Synthesis and Turnover in the Plastid of Microalgae and Implications for Biofuels

微藻是一种单细胞光合生物，依靠大气中的二氧化碳、阳光和溶解的矿物质营养物质生长。在适当的条件下，微藻还可以产生脂肪酸作为脂质储存，这些脂肪酸可以很容易地转化为生物柴油等生物燃料。该研究旨在通过了解脂质如何在藻类细胞中产生和储存，利用基因工程工具来操纵和研究微藻的脂质代谢途径，从而提高微藻的生物量和脂质产量。这项研究的结果有可能提出新的工程策略来提高生产力，并促进从微藻生产生物燃料的可持续过程的发展。围绕藻类生物燃料主题的主题将通过马里兰大学系统的研讨会和实习项目来促进K-12、本科和研究生教育。本研究的总体目标是以绿色微藻莱茵衣藻为模型生物，促进对单细胞微藻中与三酰甘油合成和转化相关的原核途径的基本理解。微藻胞浆中三酰基甘油合成和转化的真核途径得到了较好的研究，其产生的真核甘油脂在sn-2位置具有C18。然而，质体中产生sn-2位C16的原核甘油脂的原核途径仍不明确。通过了解原核途径获得的知识可以潜在地开发新的工程策略，通过这些原核途径的代谢工程来同时增加藻类生物量和脂质产量。这将通过衣藻的脂质体和质体的蛋白质组学和功能分析来确定参与原核生物甘油三酯合成和转化的新基因。这些基因将被改造以产生生物量和脂质产量更高的菌株。该项目将涉及少数族裔的K-12、本科生和研究生，他们将有机会获得有关藻类生物燃料研究的知识，并通过马里兰大学系统的研讨会和实习项目获得实践经验。

PI Name: Yantao LiProposal Number: 1511939Microalgae are single-celled photosynthetic organisms that grow on atmospheric carbon dioxide, sunlight, and dissolved mineral nutrients. Under the proper conditions, microalgae also produce fatty acids stored as lipids, which can be readily converted to biofuel such as biodiesel. The proposed research seeks to improve biomass and lipid production from microalgae by understanding how lipids are made and stored in algal cells, using the tools of genetic engineering to manipulate and study of their lipid metabolic pathways. Outcomes from the research have the potential to suggest new engineering strategies to boost productivity and facilitate the development of sustainable processes for the production of biofuels from microalgae. Subject matter built around algal biofuel topics will be designed to promote K-12, undergraduate and graduate education through workshop and internship programs at the University System of Maryland.The overall goal of this proposed research is to advance fundamental understanding of prokaryotic pathways associated with triacylglycerol synthesis and turnover in single-celled microalgae using the green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a model organism. The eukaryotic pathways of triacylglycerol synthesis and turnover in the cytosol of microalgae, which produces eukaryotic glycerolipids with C18 at sn-2 position of the glycerol backbone, are well studied. However, the prokaryotic pathways in the plastid, which produce prokaryotic glycerolipids with C16 at sn-2 position, are still poorly defined. The knowledge gained by understanding the prokaryotic pathways could potentially enable development of new engineering strategies to simultaneously increase algal biomass and lipid production through metabolic engineering of these prokaryotic pathways. This will be achieved through proteomic and functional analyses of lipid bodies and plastids of Chlamydomonas to identify novel genes involved in prokaryotic triacylglycerol synthesis and turnover. These genes will be engineered to generate strains with improved biomass and lipid yield. This project will involve under-represented minority K-12, undergraduate and graduate students, who will be provided with the opportunities to gain knowledge about algal biofuel research and obtain hands on experiences through workshop and internship programs at the University System of Maryland.