R-phycoerythrin (R-PE), a marine bioactive protein, is abundant in Porphyra yezoensis with high protein content. In this study, R-PE was purified using a deep eutectic solvents aqueous two-phase system (DES-ATPS), combined with ammonium sulphate precipitation, and characterized by certain techniques. Firstly, choline chloride-urea (ChCl-U) was selected as the suitable DES to form ATPS for R-PE extraction. Then, single-factor experiments were conducted: the purity (A₅₆₅/A₂₈₀) of R-PE was 3.825, and the yield was 69.99% (w/w) under optimal conditions (adding 0.040 mg R-PE to ChCl-U (0.35 g)/K₂HPO₄ (0.8 g/mL, 0.5 mL) and extracting for 20 min). The sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) results revealed that the purified R-PE contained three main bands. One band was presented after purification in native-PAGE. The UV-vis spectra showed characteristic absorption peaks at 495, 540, and 565 nm. R-PE displayed an emission wavelength at 570 nm when excited at 495 nm. All spectra results illustrated that the structure of R-PE remained unchanged throughout the process, proving the effectiveness of this method. Transmission electron microscope (TEM) showed that aggregation and surrounding phenomena were the driving forces for R-PE extraction. This study could provide a green and simple purification method of R-PE in drug development.

Diacylglycerol acyltransferase (DGAT) catalyzes the final and only committed acylation step in the synthesis of triacylglycerols. In this study, three novel AhDGATs genes were identified and isolated from peanut. Quantitative real-time RT-PCR analysis indicated that the AhDGAT1-2 transcript was more abundant in roots, seeds, and cotyledons, whereas the transcript abundances of AhDGAT1-1 and AhDGAT3-3 were higher in flowers than in the other tissues examined. During seed development, transcript levels of AhDGAT1-1 remained relatively low during the initial developmental stage but increased gradually during later stages, peaking at 50 days after pegging (DAP). Levels of AhDGAT1-2 transcripts were higher at 10 and 60 DAPs and much lower during other stages, whereas AhDGAT3-3 showed higher expression levels at 20 and 50 DAPs. In addition, AhDGAT transcripts were differentially expressed following exposure to abiotic stresses or abscisic acid. The activity of the three AhDGAT genes was confirmed by heterologous expression in a Saccharomyces cerevisiae TAG-deficient quadruple mutant. The recombinant yeasts restored lipid body formation and TAG biosynthesis, and preferentially incorporated unsaturated C18 fatty acids into lipids. The present study provides significant information useful in modifying the oil deposition of peanut through molecular breeding.