Isolation and Characterization of Phytoene Desaturase cDNA Involved in the β-Carotene Biosynthetic Pathway in Dunaliella salina
- 18 June 2005
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Chemical Society (ACS) in Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry
- Vol. 53 (14), 5593-5597
- https://doi.org/10.1021/jf0506838
Abstract
The green alga Dunaliella salina is one of the best and most important biological sources of β-carotene; however, to date the molecular basis of the β-carotene biosynthesis process in D. salina is still unresolved. The dehydrogenation of phytoene is the second step in the carotenoids biosynthetic pathway, and the phytoene-related desaturases are the key enzymes in the β-carotene biosynthetic pathway. A phytoene desaturase (Pds) cDNA with a 1752 bp open reading frame was cloned by RT-PCR and RACE-PCR methods on the basis of a modified switching mechanism at 5‘ end of the RNA transcript (SMART) technology from D. salina. The predicted protein sequence displays a high identity (up to 65%) with phytoene desaturases of higher plants and cyanobacteria. The highest amino acid sequence identity (91%) is shared with the phytoene desaturase sequence of Dunaliella bardawil, and a dinucleotide-binding motif lies in the N-terminal. The phylogenetic analysis shows that D. salina Pds is closer to higher plants and cyanobacteria than bacterial and fungi. These results together demonstrated the cloned Pds cDNA of D. salina is a Pds-type gene, and it is postulated that in D. salina the first two dehydrogenations, by which phytoene is converted into ζ-carotene, are carried out by this putative phytoene desaturase. Keywords: Dunaliella salina; β-carotene biosynthesis; phytoene desaturase cDNA; SMART technologyKeywords
This publication has 17 references indexed in Scilit:
- Analysis in Vitro of the Enzyme CRTISO Establishes a Poly-cis-Carotenoid Biosynthesis Pathway in PlantsPlant Physiology, 2004
- The biosynthesis and nutritional uses of carotenoidsProgress in Lipid Research, 2004
- Carotenoids and transcriptionArchives of Biochemistry and Biophysics, 2004
- Metabolic engineering of the astaxanthin-biosynthetic pathway ofFEMS Yeast Research, 2003
- Maize phytoene desaturase and -carotene desaturase catalyse a poly-Z desaturation pathway: implications for genetic engineering of carotenoid content among cereal cropsJournal of Experimental Botany, 2003
- Antioxidants in Photosynthesis and Human NutritionScience, 2002
- Molecular evolution of carotenoid biosynthesis from bacteria to plantsPhysiologia Plantarum, 2002
- Cloning of tangerine from Tomato Reveals a Carotenoid Isomerase Essential for the Production of β-Carotene and Xanthophylls in PlantsPlant Cell, 2002
- Identification of the Carotenoid Isomerase Provides Insight into Carotenoid Biosynthesis, Prolamellar Body Formation, and PhotomorphogenesisPlant Cell, 2002
- A novel carotenoid biosynthesis gene coding for ?-carotene desaturase: functional expression, sequence and phylogenetic originPlant Molecular Biology, 1994