Real-time quantitative PCR analysis of Nannochloropsis gaditana

Nannochloropsis gaditana cells were cultivated under continuous light as a control condition versus 3 different flashing light conditions (FL5, FL50 and FL500). This study is complementary to Lima et al. (2020) where physiology and photosynthetic capacity were assesed. Here we analyzed the mRNA expression level of key genes related to photoshynthesis, lipid and starch synthesis, and nitrogen assimilation. Total cell RNA was extracted from cultures of N. gaditana at a concentration of 1x106 cells/mL using the E.Z.N.A® total DNA/RNA isolation kit (Omega Bio-tek, Inc., USA). Reverse transcription reactions were performed using SuperScript™ IV VILO™ Master Mix with the enzyme ezDNase (Invitrogen™, ThermoFisher scientific, USA) according to the manufacturer’s protocol. The qPCR reactions were performed by mixing 5L of FastStart Universal SYBR Green Master mix (Rox) (Roche Molecular Systems, Inc., USA) with 1 L of primer mix (consisting of forward and the reverse primers) at a concentration of 300 nM and 4 L of the cDNA. The conditions of thermocycling were: 95 C for 600 s (preincubation), followed by 40 cycles of denaturation at 95 C for 10 s, annealing/extension at 60 C for 30 s. qPCR were performed in the LightCycler 96 Roche Life Science instrument. qPCR gene expression profiling. Procedure were conducted as described in the summary. Equal amount total RNA from each donor was pooled prior to gene.