This study aimed to investigate the correlation between the cold adaptation of Rhodotorula glutinis YM25079 and the membrane fluidity, content of polyunsaturated fatty acids and mRNA expression level of the (12)-desaturase gene. The optimum temperature for YM25079 growth was analysed first, then the composition changes of membrane lipid in YM25079 were detected by GC-MS and membrane fluidity was evaluated by 1-anilinonaphthalene-8-sulphonate (ANS) fluorescence. Meanwhile, the encoding sequence of (12)-fatty acid desaturase in YM25079 was cloned and further transformed into Saccharomyces cerevisiae INVScl for functional analysis. The mRNA expression levels of (12)-fatty acid desaturase at 15 degrees C and 25 degrees C were analysed by real-time PCR. YM25079 could grow at 5-30 degrees C, with the optimum temperature of 15 degrees C. The membrane fluidity of YM25079 was not significantly reduced when the culture temperature decreased from 25 degrees C to 15 degrees C, but the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), including linoleic acid and -Linolenic acid increased significantly from 29.4% to 55.39%. Furthermore, a novel (12)-fatty acid desaturase gene YM25079RGD12 from YM25079 was successfully identified and characterized, and the mRNA transcription level of the (12)-desaturase gene was about five-fold higher in YM25079 cells grown at 15 degrees C than that at 25 degrees C. These results suggests that the cold adaptation of Rhodotorula glutinis YM25079 might result from higher expression of genes, especially the (12)-fatty acid desaturase gene, during polyunsaturated fatty acids biosynthesis, which increased the content of PUFAs in the cell membrane and maintained the membrane fluidity at low temperature. Copyright (c) 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
基金：
National Natural Science Foundation of
China (Grant Nos 31260034 and 31160016).
第一作者机构：[1]Kunming Univ Sci & Technol, Fac Life Sci & Technol, Kunming 650500, Peoples R China[2]First Peoples Hosp Yunnan Prov, Yunnan Prov Key Lab Birth Defects & Genet Dis, Genet Diag Ctr, Kunming 650500, Peoples R China
通讯作者：
通讯机构：[1]Kunming Univ Sci & Technol, Fac Life Sci & Technol, Kunming 650500, Peoples R China[*1]Room 108, College of Life Science and Technology, Kunming University of Science and Technology, 727 South Jingming Road, Kunming 650500, People’s Republic of China
推荐引用方式(GB/T 7714)：
He Jing,Yang Zhaojie,Hu Binbin,et al.Correlation of polyunsaturated fatty acids with the cold adaptation of Rhodotorula glutinis[J].YEAST.2015,32(11):683-690.doi:10.1002/yea.3095.
APA：
He, Jing,Yang, Zhaojie,Hu, Binbin,Ji, Xiuling,Wei, Yunlin...&Zhang, Qi.(2015).Correlation of polyunsaturated fatty acids with the cold adaptation of Rhodotorula glutinis.YEAST,32,(11)
MLA：
He, Jing,et al."Correlation of polyunsaturated fatty acids with the cold adaptation of Rhodotorula glutinis".YEAST 32..11(2015):683-690
