A novel, robust and mating-competent Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strain with an enhanced transgene expression capacity for algal biotechnology

• Main Authors: Polina Dementyeva, Robert A. Freudenberg, Thomas Baier, Kristin Rojek, Lutz Wobbe, Bernd Weisshaar, Olaf Kruse
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier 2021-09-01
• Series: Biotechnology Reports
• Subjects: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii; Algal biotechnology; Transgene expression; Industrial strains; Robustness traits
• Online Access: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2215017X21000606

In the future, algae biotechnology could play an important role in sustainable development, especially with regard to the production of valuable chemicals. Among the established laboratory strains with efficient transgene expression, there are none that have demonstrated the required robustness for industrial applications, which generally require growth at larger scale. Here, we created a robust and mating-competent cell line of the green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, which also possesses a high transgene expression capacity. This strain shows a comparably high resistance to shear stress by accumulating increased amounts of biomass under these conditions. As a proof-of-concept, a high phototrophic productivity of cadaverine from CO2 and nitrate was demonstrated by efficiently expressing a bacterial l-lysine decarboxylase. In contrast to other established strains, this novel chassis strain for phototrophic production schemes is equipped with the traits required for industrial applications, by combining mating-competence, cell wall-mediated robustness and high level transgene expression.