title: Identification of Sporopollenin as the Outer Layer of Cell Wall in Microalga Chlorella protothecoides.
abstract: Chlorella protothecoides has been put forth as a promising candidate for commercial biodiesel production. However, the cost of biodiesel remains much higher than diesel from fossil fuel sources, partially due to the high costs of oil extraction from algae. Here, we identified the presence of a sporopollenin layer outside the polysaccharide cell wall; this was evaluated using transmission electron microscopy, 2-aminoethanol treatment, acetolysis, and Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy. We also performed bioinformatics analysis of the genes of the C. protothecoides genome that are likely involved in sporopollenin synthesis, secretion, and translocation, and evaluated the expression of these genes via real-time PCR. We also found that that removal of this sporopollenin layer greatly improved the efficiency of oil extraction.
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Junbiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.affiliation: MOE Key Laboratory of Bioinformatics, Center for Synthetic and Systems Biology, School of Life Sciences, Tsinghua University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Qingyu
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wu
keywords: Chlorophyta; biodiesel; cell wall; oil-extraction; sporopollenin