[2012.12.5] We published a paper "Metabolic profiles ofNannochloropsis oceanicaIMET1 under nitrogen-deficiency stress" onBioresours. Technol.

In this paper, we reported the progresses in metabolomics studies on oil accumulation mechanism ofNannochloropsis oceanica.Nannochloropsisis one of the best candidates for biodiesel production. We analyzed the lipid classes and fatty acid compositions ofNannochloropsisunder nitrogen-limitted conditions, and found that the triacylglycerol-neutral lipids were significantly accumulated through an acyl-CoA dependent pathway, while the polar lipids were partially converted to triacylglycerol through an acyl-CoA independent pathway. The fatty acid compositions of the polar lipids changed concurrently with the length of time of the nutrient deficiency, while the fatty acid compositions of the neutral lipids remained nearly consistent. The concentrations of several major osmolytes were significantly changed under chemostatic conditions with different nitrogen concentrations, which reflect the membrane property changes caused by the alteration of the polar lipid composition. These findings provide more insight into the oil accumolation mechanism, which will be helpful for the strategy in future biodiesel production.

The first author Dr. Yan Xiao is an Assitant Professor in Metabolic Group. Prof. Qiu Cui is the corresponding author. This work was supported by the Innovation Key Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (grant no. KGCX2-YW-374-2) and Shandong Province Scientific Research Foundation for Excellent Young Scientists (grant no. BS2011NJ020).

NCBI PubMed

Yan Xiao, Jingtao Zhang, Jiatao Cui, Yingang Feng, Qiu Cui* (2013) Metabolic profiles ofNannochloropsis oceanicaIMET1 under nitrogen-deficiency stress.Bioresour. Technol.130, 731-738.[Full text (Publisher website)]