Annotation of AMP-activated protein kinase genes and its comparative transcriptional analysis between high and low lipid producing strains of Mucor circinelloides.

Background: AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) is an important regulator for lipid accumulation, potentially known to have an inhibitory role in lipid synthesis. It inactivates acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC), an important regulatory enzyme required for lipid synthesis. However, in Mucor circinelloides, AMPK and its association with lipid accumulation has not been studied yet.

Objectives: To identify AMPK genes in M. circinelloides and to compare their expression levels in high and low lipid-producing strains of M. circinelloides to predict the possible roles of AMPK in lipid metabolism and to select candidate genes for further studies to enhance lipid accumulation.

Results: Two genes for α-subunit, one for β-subunit and six for γ-subunit were identified and annotated. Bioinformatic analysis confirmed the presence of typical conserved domains in these genes. Furthermore, transcriptional profiling displayed marked differences in expression kinetics of subunits among the selected strains. The expression of AMPK genes decreased rapidly in WJ11, high lipid producer strain during the lipid accumulation phase while contrasting profile of expression was observed in CBS 277.49, low lipid producer strain.

Conclusion: The present study has shown the association of AMPK genes with lipid metabolism at the transcriptional level. The involvement of Snf-α1, Snf-α2, Snf-β, Snf-γ1, Snf-γ4, Snf-γ5 subunits were shown to be more pronounced and could potentially be further explored in future studies.