LIP4 gene expression from Candida viswanathii strain

Abstract Background : Lipases are hydrolases that catalyze the cleavage of triglyceride esters bonds, releasing glycerol and free fatty acids. Candida genus can produce distinct isoforms of lipase, among of them, Candida viswanathii strain is a potential lipase producer using hydrophobic carbons sources in which produced high level of enzyme under submerged cultivation using olive oil as carbon sources. This enzyme has commercially attractive due to characteristics desired in the industries processes. The genes responsible for encoding the lipases comprise a family called LIP gene. C. viswanathii not have its genome sequenced and are not available in annotated form through the GenBank nucleotide sequence database for lipase production. The aim of this work was understanding at molecular level the effect of carbon sources to lipase production, to identify and to analyses the gene expression of CvLIP4 from C. viswanathii on different culture media. Results : In silico analysis was carried out with LIP4 gene from Candida species. Degenerate primers were designed and evaluated for expression in different conditions. CvLIP4 expression was evaluated using carbon sources glucose, tributyrin, triolein and olive oil. Triolein and olive oil were strong inducer for CvLIP4 gene expression, while tributyrin was a weak inducer and glucose was strong repressor. Conclusions : These results will contribute to further studies about regulation of the lipase genes expression from C. viswanathii and heterologous expression of this enzyme to improve the catalytic conditions in industries processes.