Rafrel E. Caisip | Roberta N. Garcia
Coconut, Cocos nucifera L., is an important oil crop in the Philippines. Recently, there had been growing interest in increasing its oil content through metabolic engineering. The first committed step in the biosynthesis of lipids is catalyzed by the tightly regulated enzyme, Acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) which significantly controls the carbon flux in this pathway (Ali and Tyagi, 2016). Biotin acts as a cofactor for ACCAse and its synthesis involves four significant enzymes. One of which, biotin synthase, is considered as the rate-limiting step in the biotin synthesis pathway. Increasing the concentration of biotin on its maximum level as the co-factor of ACCAse would also increase the rate of lipid biosynthesis. This study aimed to isolate and characterize the biotin synthase gene from coconut towards understanding its utility in increasing oil production through biotechnology. The isolated 749-base pair nucleotide sequence revealed significant homology with the biotin synthase of various plant species such as Elaeis guineensis, Phoenix dactylifera, Musa acuminata, Asparagus officinalis, Ananas comosus, Sorghum bicolor, and Zea mays with 76- 85% identity. The deduced amino acid sequence consisted of 244 residues and shared 59-73% homology with the Radical S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) region and the Biotin and Thiamin Synthesis (BATS) associated domain of other oil crops. Phylogenetic analysis showed that the coconut biotin synthase gene was closely similar to those of the oil palm and the date palm. Sequence analysis of the isolated gene fragment from coconut ascertained its identity to published biotin synthase gene sequences. This characterized partial coconut biotin synthase gene sequence could be used to further isolate the full-length gene.
ISSN 2719-1990 (Print)
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