Triacylglycerol biosynthesis and its regulation in yeasts

Triacylglycerol (TAG), the major storage lipid is synthesized by the sequential acylation of glycerol-3-phosphate and is reported to occur in microsomal membranes of eukaryotes. We have made a significant contribution to lipid biochemistry by discovering new pathways in the cytosol, as opposed to membranes, for TAG biosynthesis using yeasts (Saccharomyces cerevisiae and Rhodotorula glutinis). This alternate pathway suggests the formation of monoacylglycerol (MAG) from lysophosphatidic acid by the enzyme lysophosphatidic acid phosphatase, which in turn acylates successively to form TAG. Our research focuses on the regulation of oil biosynthetic pathway at the transcriptional and epitranscriptional levels in yeast

Chidambaram R, Ramachandran G, Rajasekharan R, Nachiappan V. (2022) Impairment of transcription factor Gcr1p binding motif perturbs OPI3 transcription in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry 123(6):1032-1052.

Abduldileep S, Narayanasamy R, Usharani D, Singh A, Rajasekharan R (2020) A bioactive polypeptide from sugarcane selectively inhibits intestinal sucrase. International Journal of Biological Macromolecules 156:938-948.

Rohini B, Ishwarya SP, Rajasekharan R, and VijayaKumar A. (2020) Ocimum basilicum seed mucilage reinforced with montmorillonite for preparation of bionanocomposite film for food packaging applications. Polymer Testing 87, 10646.

Dolui AK, Vijayakumar AK, Rajasekharan R, and Vijayaraj P (2020) Activity-based protein profiling of rice (Oryza sativa L.) bran serine hydrolases. Scientific Reports  10;15191.

Rao JP, Srinivasan M, Rajasekharan R (2018) Cell size is regulated by phospholipids and not by storage lipids in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Current Genetics 64(5), 1071-1087, 2018.

Yadav PK, Rajasekharan R (2018) The m6A methyltransferase Ime4 and mitochondrial functions in yeast. Current Genetics 64(2):353-357

Rajvanshi PK, Arya M, Rajasekharan R (2017) The stress regulatory transcription factors Msn2 and Msn4 regulate fatty acid oxidation in budding yeast. Journal of Biological Chemistry 292, 18628-18643

Yadav PK, Rajasekharan R (2017) The m6A methyltransferase Ime4 epitranscriptionally regulates triacylglycerol metabolism and vacuolar morphology in haploid yeast cells. Journal of Biological Chemistry 292(33) 13727–13744

Yadav PK, Rajasekharan R (2016) Misregulation of a DDHD domain- containing lipase causes mitochondrial dysfunction in yeast. Journal of Biological Chemistry 291(35) 18562–18581.

Singh N, Yadav KK, Rajasekharan R (2016) ZAP1-mediated modulation of triacylglycerol levels in yeast by transcriptional control of mitochondrial fatty acid biosynthesis. Molecular Microbiology 100(1), 55-75"