Fatty acid composition of the heterotrophic nanoflagellate Paraphysomonas sp.: influence of diet and de novo biosynthesis

We compared the relative importance of dietary factors versus de novo synthesis in determining the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) composition of the heterotrophic nanoflagellate Paraphysomonas sp. The flagellate was fed with different mutants of the picocyanobacterial strain Synechocystis PCC6803, which differ in their capability to synthesize specific PUFAs. The desA, desB, and desD genes of Synechocystis PCC6803 encode lipid desaturases at the Delta 12, Delta 15, and Delta 6 positions of 18C fatty acids (FAs), respectively. Thus, the use of desA(-), desB(-), desD(-), and desA(-)/des D(-) mutants of Synechocystis PCC6803 as food sources permitted us to provide the heterotrophic flagellate with decreasing levels of unsaturated FAs. In each treatment, Paraphysomonas sp. exhibited the same FA composition pattern, i.e. high levels of 16:0 and 18:1, and significant amounts of 18C PUFAs and long-chain PUFAs such as 20:4(n-6), 20:5(n-3), and 22:6(n-3), which indicated that Paraphysomonas sp. is capable of synthesizing these PUFAs de novo. Results also showed that dietary 18C PUFAs seem to be preferentially accumulated in Paraphysomonas sp. lipids. This demonstrates that heterotrophic protists could play a key role in transferring essential compounds from primary producers to metazoan consumers.