Integrated lipidomic and transcriptomic analyses provide insights into the positive effect of hydrogen peroxide treatment on lipid synthesis in oleaginous red yeast Sporobolomyces pararoseus

Microbial lipids are a group of promising renewable sources that are highly demanded by the food, feed, pharmaceutical, and biofuel industries. Sporobolomyces pararoseus is a well-studied oleaginous yeast that is usually considered superior for the industrial production of microbial lipids over other conventional microorganisms. The objective of this study was to investigate the specific effect of hydrogen peroxide treatment on the biosynthesis of microbial lipids in S. pararoseus via lipidomics and transcriptomics technologies. These results showed that hydrogen peroxide treatment significantly enhanced lipid production in S. pararoseus CJR, especially the triacylglycerols. The up-regulation of several key lipogenic genes might be one of the main reasons for this enhancement. Integrative analysis of the lipidome and transcriptome revealed that some key protein-encoding genes and transcription factors might play a crucial regulatory role in lipid biosynthesis under hydrogen peroxide stress. Together, the results presented herein not only provided a feasible fermentation process for boosting the yield of certain lipids but also deepened our understanding of the lipid biosynthesis in S. pararoseus CJR. This could serve as a molecular cornerstone for enhancing their yield through genetic engineering and then further facilitate commercial applications of microbial lipids synthesized by S. pararoseus in more industrial sectors.