Molecular Characterisation And Assessment Of Fatty Acid Biosynthesis Pathway In Transgenic Chlorella Vulgaris Transformed With Disrupted Omega-3 Desaturase Gene Vector Cassette

Abstract

Microalgae have emerged as one of the potential candidate for oil production due to its capability to accumulate more than 20 % of oil content in its cell dry weight. The utilization of microalgae for oil production has been studied intensively in recent years, focusing mostly on manipulating the culture conditions to obtain maximum oil yield and desired fatty acid composition for specific downstream applications. However, there are still limited studies to improve oil-producing strains via genetic engineering and elucidate the regulation of fatty acid biosynthesis pathway at the genomic level. Therefore, this study demonstrated the genetic modification of Chlorella vulgaris by targeting the omega-3 desaturase gene, the translated product of which is responsible for the desaturation of linoleic acid (C18:2) to α-linolenic acid (C18:3n3). A copy of the disrupted omega-3 fatty acid desaturase (ω-3 FAD) gene vector cassette was transformed into the C. vulgaris UMT-M1 genome through Agrobacterium-mediated transformation and the transgene effect on fatty acid