Photosynthetic physiological performance and proteomic profiling of the oleaginous algae Scenedesmus acuminatus reveal the mechanism of lipid accumulation under low and high nitrogen supplies.

In this study, we presented cellular morphological changes, time-resolved biochemical composition, photosynthetic performance and proteomic profiling to capture the photosynthetic physiological response of Scenedesmus acuminatus under low nitrogen (3.6 mM NaNO3, N-) and high nitrogen supplies (18.0 mM NaNO3, N+). S. acuminatus cells showed extensive lipid accumulation (53.7% of dry weight) and were enriched in long-chain fatty acids (C16 & C18) under low nitrogen supply. The activity of PSII and photosynthetic rate decreases, whereas non-photochemical quenching and dark respiration rates were increased in the N- group. In addition, the results indicated a redistribution of light excitation energy between PSII and PSI in S. acuminatus exists before lipid accumulation. The iTRAQ results showed that, under high nitrogen supply, protein abundance of the chlorophyll biosynthesis, the Calvin cycle and ribosomal proteins decreased in S. acuminatus. In contrast, proteins associated with the photosynthetic machinery, except for F-type ATPase, were increased in the N+ group (N+, 3 vs. 9 days and 3 days, N+ vs. N-). Under low nitrogen supply, proteins involved in central carbon metabolism, fatty acid synthesis and branched-chain amino acid metabolism were increased, whereas the abundance of proteins of the photosynthetic machinery had decreased, with exception of PSI (N-, 3 vs. 9 days and 9 days, N+ vs. N-). Collectively, the current study has provided a basis for the metabolic engineering of S. acuminatus for biofuel production.