ROS Induce β-Carotene Biosynthesis Caused by Changes of Photosynthesis Efficiency and Energy Metabolism in Dunaliella salina Under Stress Conditions
Yimei Xi, Fantao Kong, Zhanyou Chi
Abstract
The unicellular alga Dunaliella salina is regarded as a promising cell factory for the commercial production of β-carotene due to its high yield of carotenoids. However, the underlying mechanism of β-carotene accumulation is still unclear. In this study, the regulatory mechanism of β-carotene accumulation in D. salina under stress conditions was investigated. Our results indicated that there is a significant positive correlation between the cellular ROS level and β-carotene content, and the maximum quantum efficiency ( F v /F m ) of PSII is negatively correlated with β-carotene content under stress conditions. The increase of ROS was found to be coupled with the inhibition of F v /F m of PSII in D. salina under stress conditions. Furthermore, transcriptomic analysis of the cells cultivated with H 2 O 2 supplementation showed that the major differentially expressed genes involved in β-carotene metabolism were upregulated, whereas the genes involved in photosynthesis were downregulated. These results indicated that ROS induce β-carotene accumulation in D. salina through fine-tuning genes which were involved in photosynthesis and β-carotene biosynthesis. Our study provided a better understanding of the regulatory mechanism involved in β-carotene accumulation in D. salina , which might be useful for overaccumulation of carotenoids and other valuable compounds in other microalgae.