Construction of VHb- and SHb-expressing strains
The plasmid pMAT1552 with pyrG gene was chosen for VHb and SHb expression in M. circinelloides. This plasmid was chosen because of its designed homologous fragment, CarRP, which could be integrated into the chromosome via homologous recombination (Fig. 1). CarRP gene encodes lycopene cyclase/phytoene synthase, which is a key enzyme in β-carotene biosynthesis.29 When VHb and SHb expression cassettes were integrated into the genomic DNA, the CarRP gene was broken and β-carotene biosynthesis was shutoff. Therefore, the correct mutants with homologous recombination were obtained by observing the color of single colonies. The transformants were screened until the whole colony turned white, because of multiple nucleuses in the fungus cell (Vellanki et al. 2018). All transformants were cultured in K&R medium and genomic DNA was extracted for PCR verification. The confirmed McVHb (VHb-expressing), McSHb (SHb-expressing) mutant strains, and the control strains were used for further analysis.
The characteristics of VHb and SHb protein and their expression level in M. circinelloides
VHb and SHb proteins, which belong to the hemoglobin family but originate from different species, can transfer oxygen for physiological activity. However, the number of amino acid residues of SHb (403 aa) is about three times larger than that of VHb (146 aa). Alignment with VHb sequence showed that SHb contains two additional, highly conserved motifs: oxido-reductase FAD-binding and NAD(P)-binding domain (the sequences), except the heme-binding domain (Fig. 2A).
The expression of VHb and SHb in M. circinelloides was verified by CO-difference spectral analysis (Fig. 2B). On treatment with CO, there was a typical peak at about 419 nm in mutant strains with VHb or SHb expression, whereas the control strain did not exhibit this peak, demonstrating that active SHb or VHb was successfully expressed in M. circinelloides mutant strains.
Effects of VHb and SHb expression on cellular growth and TFA content in M. circinelloides in flask
The transformants and the control strains were cultivated in flasks with glucose as a carbon source, to assess the effects of VHb and SHb expression on the biomass and TFA content in M. circinelloides (Fig. 3). Compared to the control strains, the biomass were improved in VHb- and SHb- expressing strains, and SHb-expressing strains had larger amount of biomass than VHb-expressing strains. The biomass of SHb-expressing strain No 1 reached a maximum of 9.8 g/l, which was 50% higher than that of control strains (Fig. 3A). The biomass showed a significant difference among the transformants with the same gene integration, however, there was only a slight difference in TFA content (Fig. 3B). Like the results of biomass, both VHb and SHb expression in M. circinelloides led to increased TFA content. TFA content in SHb-expressing strain number 1 was up to 15.7% of dry cell weight, which was about 40% higher than in control strains. There was also a better impact on the TFA content in SHb-expressing strains than VHb-expressing strains.
Verification of the effect of VHb and SHb expression on cellular growth of M. circienlloides grown in fermenter
VHb and SHb expression had positive influence on cell proliferation and lipid biosynthesis in M. circinelloides cultivated in flask. Since the fermentation condition of the flask was unstable and the ventilation was limited, the fermenter was used to verify the results obtained in flask conditions. The mutant strains were cultivated in a fermenter at 0.2 and 0.5 vvm, and the samples were collected for residual glucose concentration, ammonia concentration, biomass, and TFA content determination.
The aeration rate is an extremely important parameter for cell growth of M. circinelloides. At the aeration rate of 0.2 vvm, the biomass of the control and the VHb-expressing transformants was up to ∼ 60% lesser (from ∼8.0 g/L to ∼5.0 g/L) than the biomass at the relatively high aeration rate (0.5 vvm). However, the cell growth in SHb-expressing transformants was not virtually inhibited at low oxygen condition (0.2 vvm). There was significant difference among the mutant strains, the maximum biomass of McSHb was 12.1 g/L (Fig. 4), which was higher than the control and the VHb-expressing transformants, especially at low oxygen conditions (0.2 vvm). Therefore, the expression of SHb clearly promoted cell growth in M. circinelloides.
During fermentation, residual glucose and ammonia concentration was measured to monitor the nutrition condition in the medium. The results showed that the rate of glucose consumption in strain McSHb with high aeration (0.5 vvm) slowed down, however the rate of ammonia consumption became faster compared to the control strain and McVHb. When these mutant strains were cultivated at low aeration (0.2 vvm), there was a same trend in the rate of ammonia consumption among the transformants, while the rate of glucose consumption showed no difference between the control strain and McVHb, and the residual glucose of strain McSHb was lower than these two strains (Fig. 5).
Effects of VHb and SHb expression on TFA content and composition of M. circienlloides grown in fermenter
When these transformants were cultivated in fermenter at high aeration condition (0.5 vvm), hemoglobin expression led to improvement of the TFA content. The TFA content of SHb-expressing strain was up to 21.1% of dry cell weight, increased by 35.2% compared to that of control strains. However, the TFA content of VHb-expressing strain was only increased by 12.8%, further. The TFA content of these mutant strains, at low aeration rate (0.2 vvm), was significantly lower than at high aeration rate. The TFA content of VHb-expressing strain markedly reduced (from 17.6–14.3%) at low aeration rate, whereas TFA content of McSHb was only weakly affected. Irrespective of the aeration rate, the TFA content of McSHb still remained at a relatively high level, and the maximum lipid content of McSHb was more than 20% of the dry cell weight (Fig. 6).
The fatty acid profile of VHb- and SHb-expressing transformants was also analyzed (Table 1). The profile revealed the main contributors to the fatty acid content of triacylglyceride were saturated fatty acid (C16:0), oleic acid (C18:1) and polyunsaturated fatty acids (C18:2 and C18:3). Stearic acid (C18:0) occured in a lower amount and measurable tetradecanoic acid (C14:0) was detected. The fatty acids of VHb- and SHb-expressing transformants presented similar values with the control strain when cultured in fermenter, and SHb expression resulted in more change in fatty acid profile than VHb expression in M. circinelloides. The SHb expression led to an increase in polyunsaturated fatty acids constituents and a decrease in the monounsaturated fatty acid relative to the control strain, while no obvious saturated fatty acid change was observed in two fermenter conditions. The proportion of polyunsaturated fatty acids in McSHb was clearly higher than McVHb and the proportion of C18:3 in SHb-expressing strain was up to 22.3% of TFA.