Microalgae are considered to be a highly promising source for the production of biodiesel. However, the regulatory mechanism governing lipid biosynthesis has not been fully elucidated to date, and the improvement of lipid accumulation in microalgae is essential for the effective production of biodiesel. In this study,LEAFY COTYLEDON1 (LEC1)fromArabidopsis thaliana, a transcription factor (TF) that affects lipid content, was transferred intoChlorella ellipsoidea. Compared with wild-type (WT) strains, the total fatty acid content and total lipid content ofAtLEC1transgenic strains were significantly increased by 24.20–32.65 and 22.14–29.91%, respectively, under mixotrophic culture conditions and increased by 24.4–28.87 and 21.69–30.45%, respectively, under autotrophic conditions, while the protein content of the transgenic strains was significantly decreased by 18.23–21.44 and 12.28–18.66%, respectively, under mixotrophic and autotrophic conditions. Fortunately, the lipid and protein content variation did not affect the growth rate and biomass of transgenic strains under the two culture conditions. According to the transcriptomic data, the expression of 924 genes was significantly changed in the transgenic strain (LEC1-1). Of the 924 genes, 360 were upregulated, and 564 were downregulated. Based on qRT-PCR results, the expression profiles of key genes in the lipid synthesis pathway, such asACCase,GPDH,PDAT1, andDGAT1, were significantly changed. By comparing the differentially expressed genes (DEGs) regulated byAtLEC1inC. ellipsoideaandArabidopsis, we observed that approximately 59% (95/160) of the genes related to lipid metabolism were upregulated inAtLEC1transgenicChlorella. Our research provides a means of increasing lipid content by introducing exogenous TF and presents a possible mechanism ofAtLEC1regulation of lipid accumulation inC. ellipsoidea.
Overexpression of the soybean transcription factor GmDof4 significantly enhances the lipid content of Chlorella ellipsoidea