All three phospholipases encoding genes identified were overexpressed in — N, while only one of the two TAG lipase genes found, acylglycerol lipase, was overexpressed (Table 3). The overexpression of lipase genes during nitrogen deprivation in C. reinhardtii has been thought to be associ­ated with the reconstruction of the cellular membrane for the purpose of channeling fatty acids to triacylglyceride production [10]. Triacylglycer — ide lipase, which is active in triacylglyceride hydrolysis was moderately repressed (log2 fold change = 0.33) under the — N scenario providing some support to the hypothesis that while membrane reconstruction was active, TAG degradation was reduced under nitrogen limitation (Table 3). Final­ly, genes associated with regulating autophagy and the 5’ AMP-activated protein kinase gene (SnRKl gene in plants) were overexpressed in the — N scenario (Table 3). SnRKl is a global regulator of carbon metabolism in plants [30,31], and its up regulation—along with that of autophagy associ­ated genes—further demonstrates the cells efforts to maintain homeostasis under — N conditions.