Chlamydomonas reinhardtii for the production of recombinant proteins: current knowledge and perspectives Chapter uri icon

abstract

  • Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a small unicellular green microalga with high impact on biotechnology as a host for heterologous protein expression. Various features make C. reinhardtii a valuable organism for these purposes: quick growth under both photosynthetic and heterotrophic conditions, easily scale-up at pilot level, low production costs, no presence of human pathogens, and the ability to fold and assemble complex proteins. The power of C. reinhardtii as a model organism was further elevated by the establishment of a full nuclear, chloroplast, and mitochondrial genome sequence, which has allowed the development of efficient transformation systems by targeting foreign genes to the chloroplast and nuclear genomes. Despite the development of a wide range of molecular tools, the expression levels in microalgae are generally lower compared to higher plants. Thus novel tools have appeared in recent years to deal with this problem. This chapter provides an overview of the progress in the genetic engineering and expression of heterologous proteins in C. reinhardtii, including transformation methods and vector construction strategies that could affect protein yields such as promoters, enhancer elements, and codon usage. Current successes in recombinant proteins expressed in this microalga are included. Future challenges and perspectives regarding the expression of heterologous proteins in C. reinhardtii are also examined. © 2025 Elsevier Inc. All rights are reserved including those for text and data mining AI training and similar technologies.

publication date

  • 2024-01-01