METHOD FOR DETERMINING FATTY ACID SYNTHESIS PATHWAY OF MICROORGANISM, AND PCR PRIMER SET FOR USE IN THE METHOD

摘要

Disclosed is a method for determining the fatty acid synthesis pathway of a microorganism. Specifically disclosed is a method for determining the fatty acid synthesis pathway of a microorganism, which is characterized by producing degenerate primers for a fatty acid synthesis-related enzyme gene and determining the presence or absence of the fatty acid synthesis-related gene in the genome gene extracted from the microorganism using the degenerate primers. The sequences for degenerate primers for C20-elongase gene, which is a fatty acid synthesis-related enzyme gene, are ATHGARTWYTKBRTITTYGTICA (SEQ ID NO:1) and TARTRISWRTACATIADIAMRTG (SEQ ID NO:2), and the sequences for degenerate primers for ?4-desaturase gene are GGNCAYCAYCMITAYACNAA (SEQ ID NO:3) and TCDATYTGRTGIBWIARNCC (SEQ ID NO:4). The microorganism is one belonging to the class Labyrinthulea. Also specifically disclosed is a PCR primer set for use in the determination method. The method is useful as a method for screening a microorganism capable of synthesizing a fatty acid.