Analysis of an essential carotenogenic enzyme: ζ-carotene desaturase from unicellular Alga Dunaliella salina.

The green alga Dunaliella has become a valuable model organism for understanding the interesting mechanism of massive carotenoid accumulation. Previously, DNA sequences of several carotenogenic enzymes were obtained from Dunaliella. In this study, the cDNA of zds was isolated from Dunaliella salina using a polymerase chain reaction approach. The full-length cDNA sequence was 2178 base pairs (bp) containing a 1731 bp putative open reading frame which coded a 576 amino acid deduced polypeptide whose molecular weight was 63.9 kDa computationally. A complete homologous search displayed that the nucleotide and putative protein sequence have sequence identities of 69% and 66% with those of green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, respectively. It was predicted that this ζ-carotene desaturase (Zds) may be located in the chloroplast of D. salina. Phylogenetic analysis demonstrated that the D. salina Zds had a closer relationship with the Zds of algae and higher plants than with those of other species.