La capacité des microalgues à accumuler des quantités importantes de lipides de réserve font de ces organismes de bons candidats pour envisager une production durable de biocarburants (biodiesel). Cependant, des verrous d’ordre technologique et biologique persistent avant d’atteindre une production économiquement viable. Dans le but de mieux comprendre les mécanismes et biosynthèse et d’accumulation des lipides chez les microalgues et de proposer des voies d’amélioration biotechnologiques, nous avons développé deux approches expérimentales complémentaires en utilisant la microalgue Chlamydomonas reinhardtii comme modèle. La première a été de caractériser par des techniques de protéomique et de lipidomique la composition des gouttelettes lipidiques s’accumulant en réponse à une carence en azote. Les données de protéomique nous ont permis de montrer que les gouttelettes lipidiques étaient des structures cellulaires dynamiques impliquées non seulement dans le stockage, mais aussi dans la biosynthèse, la remobilisation et le « trafficking » des lipides. Les protéines identifiées au cours de cette étude nous fournissent des gènes cibles d’intérêt pour mieux comprendre les voies de biosynthèse des triacylglycérols et accroître l’accumulation d’huile. La seconde approche, de génétique formelle, a consisté à rechercher puis à caractériser des mutants isolés à partir d’une banque de mutants d’insertion de C. reinhardtii. Deux mutants d’intérêt, l’un affecté dans la composition en acides gras (crfad7) et l’autre capable d’accumuler des lipides en l’absence de stress (coa1, pour constitutive oil accumulator 1), ont été isolés. / The ability of microalgae to accumulate high amounts of reserve lipids makes these organisms good candidates for the production of sustainable biofuel (biodiesel). However, both technological and biological bottlenecks remain to be overcome before profitable production is reached. With the aim to better understand lipid metabolic pathways in microalgae and further propose new strategies for biotechnological improvement, we have developed two complementary experimental approaches in the model microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. As a first approach, we performed a proteomic and lipidomic characterization of oil bodies isolated from nitrogen-deprived cells. Based on proteomic data, we have concluded that oil bodies are dynamic structures involved not only in the storage, but also in oil biosynthesis, degradation and lipid homeostasis. The proteins identified in this study should provide useful targets for genetic studies aiming at increasing our understanding of triacylglycerol synthesis and further improve intracellular oil accumulation. The second approach, based on the development of a forward genetic screen, aimed at searching and further characterizing mutants isolated from a C. reinhardtii insertion library. Two mutants of interest, one affected in the fatty acid composition (crfad7), the other (coa1, for constitutive oil accumulator 1) able to accumulate reserve lipids in the absence of stress, have been isolated. The crfad7 mutant, affected in the expression of the unique ω3 fatty acid desaturase present in the C. reinhardtii genome, has been complemented and subjected to extensive phenotypical characterization.

It is estimated that over a third of the diet in the Western world is made up of oils and fats, of which a prominent percentage is in the form of emulsion food products, including milks, creams, yoghurts, margarines, salad dressings, desserts, soups and cheese. Current processing techniques involve the extraction and refining of edible oils using high temperatures and organic solvents, followed by re-encapsulation of the oil, for incorporation into the required emulsion products. The research presented in this PhD thesis was performed within the auspices of the UK Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) funded, Sustainable Emulsion Ingredients through Bio-Innovation (SEIBI) project, which involved collaboration with researchers from the University of Nottingham together with a consortium of industrial partners. SEIBI was initiated to investigate a novel processing route for the production of food-grade rape and sunflowerseed oil emulsions from aqueously extracted oil-bodies. Being less energy and chemical intensive, the novel process offered potential reductions in both greenhouse gas emissions and wider environmental impacts when compared with conventional processing. Using Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) techniques, the environmental burdens of the aqueous oil-body extraction process were determined and compared with those of the existing technology route. To facilitate this, the research focussed on six key objectives, designed to both identify the environmental loads of the systems involved and scrutinise the impact of a number of methodological choices for LCA. These included choice of allocation method, normalisation, scaling issues distinct for novel processes and the extent to which the single-issue LCA variant, carbon footprinting could be used as an environmental indicator for the system. LCAs for four separate categories of product systems were developed encompassing seed oils, mayonnaises, aqueously extracted oil-body materials and mayonnaise-like oil-body emulsions. In addition to generating the environmental profiles required to fulfil the research objectives, the analysis of these models enabled the generation of original knowledge through the quantification of impacts for a range of processes that had either not previously been assessed or for which no published data could be found. The novel process was concluded as having clear potential for improved environmental performance over current technology even in its' pre-optimised, although the methodological choices examined were found to have profound effects on these and other results. Oil-body yield from seed was identified as key for optimisation to further maximise the environmental gains, with modest improvements, well within those theoretically possible being required for the novel process to better the environmental credentials of current technology in all key impact areas. The original outputs from this thesis will be of considerable use to developers involved in the continued advancement of the oil-body extraction technology, together with researchers within the edible oils and emulsions sector. In addition, the methodological outputs will help to inform LCA practitioners and developers in the continuing quest to understand the capabilities and limitations of this powerful analytical tool.

No description available.

Chez les eucaryotes, le rétromère est un complexe protéique composé d’un sous complexe SNX (Sorting Nexin) et d’une sous unité VPS (Vacuolar Protein Sorting) également appelé « core » rétromère. Le rétromère a été décrit comme un complexe régulant le transport des protéines membranaires au niveau de l’endosome. Chez Arabidopsis thaliana, les travaux de notre équipe ont démontré que ce complexe est impliqué dans différents processus développementaux tels que le développement de l’embryon, la maturation des protéines de réserves de la graine et l’initiation des racines secondaires. Dans ce travail, nous avons caractérisé la fonction du rétromère dans le développement des graines et des jeunes plantules d’Arabidopsis thaliana. D’une part, nous avons montré que VPS29 est nécessaire à la mise en place des réserves lipidiques de la graine. Nous avons identifié un nouveau « cargo » du complexe rétromère ; LTP6 (Lipid Transfer Protein 6) dont la perte de fonction engendre des phénotypes liés au métabolisme lipidique similaires à ceux du mutant vps29. Compte tenu de la localisation de LTP6 au niveau d’une structure intracellulaire spongieuse caractéristique du réticulum endoplasmique, le site de synthèse des corps lipidiques, nous supposons que le rétromère participe à la biogenèse des réserves lipidiques via sa fonction dans le trafic de ce nouveau « cargo ». D’autre part, nous avons mis en évidence que le « core » rétromère indépendamment de la sous-unité SNX est impliqué dans la mobilisation des réserves lipidiques, une fonction indispensable pour le développement des jeunes plantules. Nous avons montré que VPS29 est nécessaire à la translocalisation de la triacylglycérol lipase SDP1 (Sugar-Dependent 1) du peroxysome aux corps lipidiques, le compartiment de stockage des réserves lipidiques. Ces résultats nous ont permis d’envisager que le « core » rétromère pourrait emprunter de nouvelles voies de trafics intracellulaires entre des compartiments autre que l’endosome. / In eukaryotes, the retromer is a complex composed of the SNX (Sorting Nexin) subcomplex and the VPS (Vacuolar Protein Sorting) subcomplex also called the core retromer. To date, the retromer is described as a key regulator of proteins trafficking around endosomal compartment. In Arabidopsis thaliana, our group has previously demonstrated that this complex is involved in several developmental pathways, as embryo development, seed storage protein maturation and lateral root emergence. In this work, we characterised the function of the retromer in seeds and seedling development in Arabidopsis thaliana. Firstly, we found that VPS29 is required for the formation of seeds storage lipid. We identified a new cargo of this complex; Lipid Transfer Protein 6 (LTP6). LTP6 lost of function induces similar phenotype than vps29 linked to lipid metabolism. Based on LTP6 localisation on an intracellular structure characteristic of endoplasmic reticulum, the site of OBs formation, we supposed that the retromer may act on oil bodies biogenesis by its function on LTP6 trafficking. Secondly, we demonstrated that the core retromer have a SNX-independent function in lipid reserves breakdown, which is essential for seedling establishment. We showed that VPS29 is required for translocation of the triacylglycerol lipase SDP1 (Sugar-Dependent-1) from the peroxisome to oil bodies, the lipid storage compartment. Altogether, these results allowed us to propose new intracellular route trafficking for VPS sub-complex between compartments other than the endosome.