Genomic Analysis of Genes Involved in the Biosynthesis of Very Long Chain Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids in Thraustochytrium sp. 26185.

Thraustochytrium sp. 26185 is a marine protist that can produce a large amount of docosahexaenoic acid (DHA, 22:6n-3), an ω3 very long chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (VLCPUFA) of nutritional importance. However, the mechanism of how this fatty acid is synthesized and assembled into the storage lipid triacylglycerol is unclear. Here we report sequencing of the whole genome and genomic analysis of genes involved in the biosynthesis and assembly of the fatty acids in this species. Genome sequencing produced a total of 2,418,734,139 bp clean sequences with about 62 fold genome coverage. Annotation of the genome sequences revealed 10,797 coding genes. Among them, 10,216 genes could be assigned into 25 KOG classes where 451 genes were specifically assigned to the group of lipid transport and metabolism. Detailed analysis of these genes revealed co-existence of both aerobic pathway and anaerobic pathways for the biosynthesis of DHA in this species. However, in the aerobic pathway, a key gene encoding stearate Δ9 desaturase introducing the first double bond to long chain saturated fatty acid 18:0 was missing from the genome. Genomic survey of genes involved in the acyl trafficking among glycerolipids showed that, unlike plants, this protist did not possess phosphatidylcholine:diacylglycerol cholinephosphotransferase, an important enzyme in bridging two types of glycerolipids, diacylglycerols (DAG) and phosphatidylcholines (PtdCho). These results shed new insight on the biosynthesis and assembly of VLCPUFA in the Thraustochytrium.