An ortholog of farA of Aspergillus nidulans is implicated in the transcriptional activation of genes involved in fatty acid utilization in the yeast Yarrowia lipolytica

The yeast Yarrowia lipolytica effectively utilizes hydrophobic substrates such as fatty acids and n-alkanes To identify a gene(s) regulating fatty acid utilization in Y lipolytica we first studied homologous genes to wOAF1 and PIP2 of Saccharomyces cerevisiae but their disruption did not change growth on oleic acid at all We next characterized a Y lipolytica gene POR1 (primary oleate regulator 1) an ortholog of farA encoding a transcriptional activator that regulates fatty acid utilization in Aspergillus nidulans The deletion mutant of POR1 was defective in the growth on various fatty acids but not on glucose glycerol or n-hexadecane It exhibited slight defect on n-decane The transcriptional induction of genes Involved in beta-oxidation and peroxisome proliferation by oleate was distinctly diminished in the Delta por1 strains These data suggest that POR1 encodes a transcriptional activator widely regulating fatty acid metabolism in Y,lipolytica (C) 2010 Elsevier Inc All rights reserved