Fig. 2.
Overview of the MVA pathway and the synthesis of astaxanthin and ergosterol in X. dendrorhous. The MVA pathway (in blue), astaxanthin (in red), and ergosterol (in green) biosynthesis [adapted from (26)]. Arrows represent the catalytic step with the corresponding enzyme-encoding gene in X. dendrorhous (underlined) or in S. cerevisiae. MVA-P, mevalonate-5-phosphate; MVA-PP, mevalonate-5-pyrophosphate; IPP, isopentenyl-pyrophosphate; DMAPP, dimethylallyl-pyrophosphate; GPP, geranyl-pyrophosphate; FPP, farnesyl-pyrophosphate; GGPP, geranylgeranyl-pyrophosphate. The included X. dendrorhous genes, encoded enzymes and GenBank accession numbers (in square brackets) are ERG10, acetyl-CoA C-acetyltransferase [KX267759]; HMGS, HMG-CoA synthase [MK368600]; HMGR, [MK368599]; idi, IPP isomerase [DQ235686]; FPS, FPP synthase [KJ140284]; crtE, GGPP synthase [DQ012943]; crtYB, bifunctional lycopene cyclase/phytoene synthase [DQ016503]; crtI, phytoene desaturase [Y15007]; crtS, astaxanthin synthase [EU713462]; crtR, cytochrome p450 reductase [EU884133]; CYP51, lanosterol 14α-demethylase [KP317478]; and CYP61, C-22 sterol desaturase [JX183240].