title: Modes of hydrocarbon oil biosynthesis revealed by comparative gene expression analysis for race A and race B strains of Botryococcus braunii.
abstract: To clarify the oil biosynthetic routes of the oil-producing green alga Botryococcus braunii, here the race-specific gene expression patterns were examined using representative strains of race A and race B producing fatty acid- and triterpene-derived hydrocarbon oils, respectively. The strain-specific gene expression patterns in the BOT-88-2 strain (race A) and the BOT-22 strain (race B) were revealed by transcriptome comparison and real-time PCR quantification. For race A, it was inferred from the gene expression patterns that the fatty acid elongation in the acyl-carrier-protein (acp)-bound form followed by further elongation in the coenzyme A (CoA)-bound form is the major route of oil biosynthesis. The fatty acids may be desaturated in both acp- and CoA-bound forms and once metabolized into glycerolipids prior to further elongation. For race B, relatively direct entry of photosynthetic products from the reductive pentose phosphate cycle into the mevalonate-independent triterpene biosynthesis was implicated.
authors.affiliation: Center for Environmental Biology and Ecosystem Studies, National Institute for Environmental Studies, Onogawa 16-2, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8506, Japan.
authors.forename: Motohide
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ioki
authors.forename: Masato
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Baba
authors.forename: Haniyeh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bidadi
authors.forename: Iwane
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Suzuki
authors.forename: Yoshihiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shiraiwa
authors.forename: Makoto M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Watanabe
authors.forename: Nobuyoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nakajima
mesh_terms: D000460:Chlorophyta / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D020224:Expressed Sequence Tags; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000096:biosynthesis; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006838:Hydrocarbons / Q000378:metabolism*; D010938:Plant Oils / Q000378:metabolism*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D005227:Fatty Acids; D006838:Hydrocarbons; D010938:Plant Oils; D012333:RNA, Messenger