Cloning of ?3 desaturase from cyanobacteria and its use in altering the degree of membrane-lipid unsaturation

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Abstract
Cyanobacteria respond to a decrease in temperature by desaturating fatty acids of membrane lipids to compensate for the decrease in membrane fluidity. Among various desaturation reactions in cyanobacteria, the desaturation of the ω3 position of fatty acids is the most sensitive to the change in temperature. In the present study, we isolated a gene, designated desB, for the ω3 desaturase from the cyanobacterium, Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803. The desB gene encodes a protein a 359 amino-acid residues with molecular mass of 41.9 kDa. The desB gene is transcribed as a monocistronic operon that produced a single transcript of 1.4 kb. The level of the desB transcript in cells grown at 22°C was 10 times higher than that in cells grown at 34°C. In order to manipulate the fatty-acid unsaturation of membrane lipids, the desB gene in Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803 was mutated by insertion of a kanamycin-resistance gene cartridge. The resultant mutant was unable to desaturate fatty acids at the ω3 position. The desA gene, which encodes the Δ12 desaturase of Synechocystis sp. PCC 6803, and the desB gene were introduced into Synechococcus sp. PCC 7942. Whilst the parent cyanobacterium can only desaturate membrane lipids at the Δ9 position of fatty acids, the resultant transformant was able to desaturate fatty acids of membrane lipids at the Δ9, Δ12 and ω3 positions. These results confirm the function of the desB gene and demonstrate that it is possible to genetically manipulate the fatty-acid unsaturation of membrane lipids in cyanobacteria.