Alteration of the fatty acid substrate specificity of lysophosphatidate acyltransferase by site-directed mutagenesis

A reconfigured Kennedy pathway which promotes efficient accumulation of medium-chain fatty acids in leaf oils

Medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA, C6-14 fatty acids) are an ideal feedstock for biodiesel and broader oleochemicals. In recent decades, several studies have used transgenic engineering to produce MCFA in seeds oils, although these modifications result in unbalance membrane lipid profiles that impair oil yields and agronomic performance. Given the ability to engineer nonseed organs to produce oils, we have previously demonstrated that MCFA profiles can be produced in leaves, but this also results in unbalanced membrane lipid profiles and undesirable chlorosis and cell death. Here we demonstrate that the introduction of a diacylglycerol acyltransferase from oil palm, EgDGAT1, was necessary to channel nascent MCFA directly into leaf oils and therefore bypassing MCFA residing in membrane lipids. This pathway resulted in increased flux towards MCFA rich leaf oils, reduced MCFA in leaf membrane lipids and, crucially, the alleviation of chlorosis. Deep sequencing of African oil palm (Elaeis guineensis) and coconut palm (Cocos nucifera) generated candidate genes of interest, which were then tested for their ability to improve oil accumulation. Thioesterases were explored for the production of lauric acid (C12:0) and myristic (C14:0). The thioesterases from Umbellularia californica and Cinnamomum camphora produced a total of 52% C12:0 and 40% C14:0, respectively, in transient leaf assays. This study demonstrated that the introduction of a complete acyl-CoA-dependent pathway for the synthesis of MFCA-rich oils avoided disturbing membrane homoeostasis and cell death phenotypes. This study outlines a transgenic strategy for the engineering of biomass crops with high levels of MCFA rich leaf oils.

Reassessing the Potential Activities of Plant CGI-58 Protein

Comparative Gene Identification-58 (CGI-58) is a widespread protein found in animals and plants. This protein has been shown to participate in lipolysis in mice and humans by activating Adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), the initial enzyme responsible for the triacylglycerol (TAG) catabolism cascade. Human mutation of CGI-58 is the cause of Chanarin-Dorfman syndrome, an orphan disease characterized by a systemic accumulation of TAG which engenders tissue disorders. The CGI-58 protein has also been shown to participate in neutral lipid metabolism in plants and, in this case, a mutation again provokes TAG accumulation. Although its roles as an ATGL coactivator and in lipid metabolism are quite clear, the catalytic activity of CGI-58 is still in question. The acyltransferase activities of CGI-58 have been speculated about, reported or even dismissed and experimental evidence that CGI-58 expressed in E. coli possesses an unambiguous catalytic activity is still lacking. To address this problem, we developed a new set of plasmids and site-directed mutants to elucidate the in vivo effects of CGI-58 expression on lipid metabolism in E. coli. By analyzing the lipid composition in selected E. coli strains expressing CGI-58 proteins, and by reinvestigating enzymatic tests with adequate controls, we show here that recombinant plant CGI-58 has none of the proposed activities previously described. Recombinant plant and mouse CGI-58 both lack acyltransferase activity towards either lysophosphatidylglycerol or lysophosphatidic acid to form phosphatidylglycerol or phosphatidic acid and recombinant plant CGI-58 does not catalyze TAG or phospholipid hydrolysis. However, expression of recombinant plant CGI-58, but not mouse CGI-58, led to a decrease in phosphatidylglycerol in all strains of E. coli tested, and a mutation of the putative catalytic residues restored a wild-type phenotype. The potential activities of plant CGI-58 are subsequently discussed.

Alteration in the cytosolic triacylglycerol biosynthetic machinery leads to decreased cell growth and triacylglycerol synthesis in oleaginous yeast

Altered nutrient content (levels of glucose) caused a drastic reduction in cell growth and triacylglycerol (TAG) production in the wild-type (WT) Rhodotorula glutinis. This was due to the decreased level of synthesis of TAG biosynthetic enzymes, reflected by a reduction in enzyme activity. A similar observation was made in the case of non-lethal mutants of TAG-deficient oleaginous yeast, namely TAG1 and TAG2, which were generated by ethyl methane sulphonate mutagenesis. Metabolic labelling of TAG-deficient cells with [(14)C]acetate, [(32)P]orthophosphate and [(14)C]mevalonate showed a negligible TAG formation with minimal alterations in phospholipid and sterol compositions. Assays on the activities of cytosolic TAG biosynthetic enzymes revealed that lysophosphatidic acid and diacylglycerol acyltransferases (ATs) were defective in TAG1 and TAG2 respectively. The activity of membrane-bound isoforms of TAG biosynthetic enzymes remains unaltered in the mutants. Analysis of cytosolic TAG biosynthetic enzymes by immunoblotting and immunoprecipitation indicated that the defective ATs were a part of the TAG biosynthetic multienzyme complex. Quantitatively, the cytosolic lysophosphatidic acid-AT was comparable between TAG1 and the WT. However, diacylglycerol-AT was relatively less in TAG2 than the WT. These results demonstrated that either by decreasing the nutrient content or mutating the enzymes of the soluble TAG biosynthetic pathway, TAG production was decreased with concomitant reduction in the cell growth.