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Cloning and differential expression analysis of geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase gene from Dunaliella parva

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Abstract

Dunaliella parva can thrive and adapt to salt stress over a wide range of NaCl concentrations which also is related to carotenoid accumulation in Dunaliella. Dunaliella parva can accumulate carotenoids; however, the underlying mechanism of carotenoid accumulation needs further research. Thus, it is necessary to study biosynthesis and regulation of carotenoids for understanding carotenoid accumulation. In the present study, a gene encoding geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase (GGPS) from the halophilic green alga D. parva has been cloned and analyzed. It is in the branch of terpene metabolism and named as DpGGPS (D. parva GGPS). The full-length complementary DNA (cDNA) of DpGGPS was 1612 bp, including an open reading frame (ORF) of 1059 bp, 189 bp 5′-untranslated region (5′-UTR) and 364 bp 3′-UTR. The 5′-flanking region was obtained by the genome walking method. Potential regulatory elements, associated with hormones, defense, and stress, were found in the 1310 bp 5′-flanking region. Functional characterization of DpGGPS in E. coli BL21(DE3) demonstrated that DpGGPS encoded a functional GGPS. Analysis of DpGGPS expression revealed a correlation between GGPS expression and the shift of NaCl concentration, which indicated that GGPS could be a salt stress responsive gene. Cloning and expression analysis of GGPS provides a foundation for studying the regulatory mechanism of carotenoid biosynthesis, adaptation mechanism to salt stress, and massive accumulation of carotenoids in D. parva.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully thank Dr. Mohammad Asraful Alam for proof-reading and modification of English. The authors would also like to thank the editor in chief and four anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and suggestions that greatly improved the manuscript. This research was supported by the National Natural Sciences Foundation of China (No. 51476177), Foundation of Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. y507j21001) and Foundation of Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biomass-based Energy and Enzyme Technology (Huaiyin Normal University) (JSBEET1316).

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    Authors and Affiliations

    1. Institute of New Energy and New Materials, South China Agricultural University, No. 483, Wushan Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510642, China

      Changhua Shang, Xiaoli Xu & Jun Xie

    2. Key Laboratory of Energy Plants Resource and Utilization, Ministry of Agriculture, People’s Republic of China, No. 483, Wushan Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510642, China

      Changhua Shang, Xiaoli Xu & Jun Xie

    3. Key Laboratory of Biomass Energy of Guangdong Regular Higher Education Institutions, No. 483, Wushan Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510642, China

      Changhua Shang, Xiaoli Xu & Jun Xie

    4. Guangzhou Institute of Energy Conversion, Key Laboratory of Renewable Energy, Chinese Academy of Sciences, No. 2, Nengyuan Road, Tianhe District, Guangzhou, Guangdong, 510640, China

      Changhua Shang, Zhenhong Yuan, Zhongming Wang & Mohammad Asraful Alam

    5. Jiangsu Key Laboratory for Biomass-based Energy and Enzyme Technology (Huaiyin Normal University), No. 111, West Changjiang Road, Huaian, Jiangsu, 223300, China

      Lei Hu

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    1. Changhua Shang
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    Correspondence to Zhenhong Yuan or Jun Xie.

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    Changhua Shang and Xiaoli Xu contributed equally to this work.

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    Shang, C., Xu, X., Yuan, Z. et al. Cloning and differential expression analysis of geranylgeranyl diphosphate synthase gene from Dunaliella parva . J Appl Phycol 28, 2397–2405 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-015-0767-2

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-015-0767-2

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