| Using the algae such as Chlamydomonas reinhardtii production of biofuel is growing. Under the nitrogen depletion, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii show a large amount of lipid accumulation. The lipids that accumulate in the algae are in the form of triacylglycerols (TAGs). Collaborators at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln found that some proteins showed up-regulation during lipid accumulation. A 14-3-3 protein, a putative ammonium transporter, and a glycerol 3-phosphate dehydrogenase were three of them. The aim of this study was to verify the change of transcript levels of these three proteins under the nitrogen depletion in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strains cc124 and cc125. In this project, COX4 served as the negative control and DGTT1 as the positive control when qRT-PCR was performed. For DGTT1, the 14-3-3 protein, and the ammonium transporter, cc125 has a higher up-regulation than cc124, but for the glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase the opposite was the case. In general, all of the assays for both strains did show clear up-regulation. These results indicate that the transcripts of DGTT1, a 14-3-3 protein, an ammonium transporter, and a glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase may play a role in the TAG synthesis required for lipid accumulation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii under nitrogen deprivation. |
