title: Lineage-specific chromatin signatures reveal a regulator of lipid metabolism in microalgae.
abstract: Alga-derived lipids represent an attractive potential source of biofuels. However, lipid accumulation in algae is a stress response tightly coupled to growth arrest, thereby imposing a major limitation on productivity. To identify transcriptional regulators of lipid accumulation, we performed an integrative chromatin signature and transcriptomic analysis to decipher the regulation of lipid biosynthesis in the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Genome-wide histone modification profiling revealed remarkable differences in functional chromatin states between the algae and higher eukaryotes and uncovered regulatory components at the core of lipid accumulation pathways. We identified the transcription factor, PSR1, as a pivotal switch that triggers cytosolic lipid accumulation. Dissection of the PSR1-induced lipid profiles corroborates its role in coordinating multiple lipid-inducing stress responses. The comprehensive maps of functional chromatin signatures in a major clade of eukaryotic life and the discovery of a transcriptional regulator of algal lipid metabolism will facilitate targeted engineering strategies to mediate high lipid production in microalgae.
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Chew Yee
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6055-1072
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Ngan
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Chee-Hong
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Yuko
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yoshinaga
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.|School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, California 95343, USA.
authors.forename: Katherine
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Louie
authors.affiliation: Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Cindy
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.|School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, California 95343, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bowen
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Haoyu
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Lauriebeth
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leonelli
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuo
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.|School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, California 95343, USA.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Baran
authors.affiliation: Life Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: José G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: García-Cerdán
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pratap
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Mei
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Joanne
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Hope
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tice
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Daum
authors.affiliation: Physical Biosciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.|School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, California 95343, USA.
authors.forename: Trent
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Northen
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.|Single-Cell Center, CAS Key Laboratory of Biofuels and Shandong Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of BioEnergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, Shandong 266101, China.|Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Axel
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-4130-7784
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Visel
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Bristow
authors.affiliation: School of Natural Sciences, University of California, Merced, California 95343, USA.|Genomics Division, MS 84-171, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA.
authors.forename: Krishna K
authors.initials: KK
authors.lastname: Niyogi
authors.affiliation: US Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute, Walnut Creek, California 94598, USA.
authors.forename: Chia-Lin
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Wei