Lysine Crotonylation Map in Nannochloropsis oceanica Links Carbon Fixation and Lipid Metabolism

Researchers mapped lysine crotonylation across 5,859 sites on 2,044 proteins in the microalga Nannochloropsis oceanica. The modified proteins are concentrated in pathways like glycolysis, the TCA cycle, carbon fixation, and lipid metabolism. That suggests crotonylation may regulate how the alga converts carbon into storage lipids, which matters for biofuel and bioproduct development. The study used peptide enrichment and mass spectrometry to build the first global crotonylome for this species. It also found crotonylation on histones, hinting at possible epigenetic control. The dataset gives researchers a baseline to test whether these modifications actually affect enzyme activity and carbon partitioning in the cell. For climate applications, the interest is whether Nannochloropsis can be tuned to produce more lipids per unit of light and CO2. This map is a step toward that, but it doesn't prove a causal link yet.