Identification and characterization of the suppressed lipid accumulation-related gene, SLA1, in the oleaginous yeast Lipomyces starkeyi

ABSTRACT The oleaginous yeast Lipomyces starkeyi is an attractive industrial yeast that can accumulate high amounts of intracellular lipids. Identification of genes involved in lipid accumulation contributes not only to elucidating the lipid accumulation mechanism but also to breeding industrially useful high lipid-producing strains. In this study, the suppressed lipid accumulation-related gene (SLA1) was identified as the causative gene of the sr22 mutant with decreased lipid productivity. Suppressed lipid accumulation-related gene mutation reduced gene expression in lipid biosynthesis and increased gene expression in β-oxidation. Our results suggest that SLA1 mutation may leads to decreased lipid productivity. Suppressed lipid accumulation-related gene deletion also exhibited decreased gene expression in β-oxidation and increased lipid accumulation, suggesting that SLA1 deletion is a useful tool to improve lipid accumulation in L. starkeyi for industrialization.