Significance of mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation for the survivability of Aurantiochytrium limacinum ATCC MYA-1381 during sugar starvation

Abstract

ABSTRACT Thraustochytrids are marine protists that accumulate large amounts of palmitic acid and docosahexaenoic acid in lipid droplets. Random insertional mutagenesis was adopted for Aurantiochytrium limacinum ATCC MYA-1381 to search for genes that regulate lipid metabolism in thraustochytrids. A mutant strain, M17, was selected because of its significant decrease in myristic acid, palmitic acid, and triacylglycerol contents and cell growth defect. Genome analysis revealed that the gene encoding for mitochondrial electron-transfer flavoprotein ubiquinone oxidoreductase (ETFQO) was lacking in the M17 strain. This mutant strain exhibited a growth defect at the stationary phase, possibly due to stagnation of mitochondrial fatty acid β-oxidation and branched-chain amino acid degradation, both of which were caused by lack of ETFQO. This study shows the usability of random insertional mutagenesis to obtain mutants of lipid metabolism in A. limacinum and clarifies that ETFQO is integral for survival under sugar starvation in A. limacinum.