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Protein–protein interaction network of the marine microalga Tetraselmis subcordiformis: prediction and application for starch metabolism analysis

  • Systems Biotechnology
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

Under stressful conditions, the non-model marine microalga Tetraselmis subcordiformis can accumulate a substantial amount of starch, making it a potential feedstock for the production of fuel ethanol. Investigating the interactions of the enzymes and the regulatory factors involved in starch metabolism will provide potential genetic manipulation targets for optimising the starch productivity of T. subcordiformis. For this reason, the proteome of T. subcordiformis was utilised to predict the first protein–protein interaction (PPI) network for this marine alga based on orthologous interactions, mainly from the general PPI repositories. Different methods were introduced to evaluate the credibility of the predicted interactome, including the confidence value of each PPI pair and Pfam-based and subcellular location-based enrichment analysis. Functional subnetworks analysis suggested that the two enzymes involved in starch metabolism, starch phosphorylase and trehalose-phosphate synthase may be the potential ideal genetic engineering targets.

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Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the support of the Hundred Talent Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (No. A1097) and thank Dr. Hongwei Liu and Mr. Keyue Wang for the proteomic data collection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Life Sciences and Biotechnology, Dalian University of Technology, Dalian, 116023, China

    Chaofan Ji & Zhilong Xiu

  2. Marine Bioproducts Engineering Group, Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Dalian, 116023, China

    Xupeng Cao, Changhong Yao & Song Xue

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  1. Chaofan Ji
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  2. Xupeng Cao
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  4. Song Xue
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Song Xue or Zhilong Xiu.

Additional information

C. Ji and X. Cao have contributed equally to this work.

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Ji, C., Cao, X., Yao, C. et al. Protein–protein interaction network of the marine microalga Tetraselmis subcordiformis: prediction and application for starch metabolism analysis. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 41, 1287–1296 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-014-1462-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-014-1462-z

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