Engineered chlorophyll catabolism conferring predator resistance for microalgal biomass production

Production of valuable compounds including biofuels and pharmaceutical precursors derived from microalgae has garnered significant interest. Stable production of algal biomass is essential to make the microalgal industry commercially feasible. However, one of the largest issues is severe biological...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Metabolic engineering 2021-07, Vol.66, p.79-86
Main Authors: Kashiyama, Yuichiro, Ishizuka, Yuki, Terauchi, Issei, Matsuda, Toshiki, Maeda, Yoshiaki, Yoshino, Tomoko, Matsumoto, Mitsufumi, Yabuki, Akinori, Bowler, Chris, Tanaka, Tsuyoshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Chlorophyll-catabolism
Chlorophyllase
Chlorophyllide
Microalgae
Predator
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Summary:Production of valuable compounds including biofuels and pharmaceutical precursors derived from microalgae has garnered significant interest. Stable production of algal biomass is essential to make the microalgal industry commercially feasible. However, one of the largest issues is severe biological contamination by predators grazing the algal biomass, resulting in the crash of outdoor cultures. In the present study, we propose a novel engineering strategy for microalgae to cope with predators. The overexpression of plant chlorophyllase (CLH) in a microalga resulted in the enhancement of resistance to the predator. This result supported our hypothesis that CLH promotes chlorophyll breakdown in the chloroplasts of the microalgae when they are digested by the predator, generating the phototoxic catabolite chlorophyllide that damages the predator. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to establish predator-resistant microalgae by enhancing the CLH activity. •The microalga resistant to predators was developed by engineering the chlorophyll catabolism.•Expression of the plant chlorophyllase in the microalgal cells led to high level of phototoxic catabolite chlorophyllide.•Chlorophyllase-mediating chlorophyllide generation could compete with detoxification of chlorophylls in the predator.•The engineered microalga showed steady growth in the presence of predator, while wild type did not grow with predator.•The light intensity-dependent phototoxicity supported our hypothesis that chlorophyllide generates ROS in the predator.
ISSN:1096-7176
1096-7184
DOI:10.1016/j.ymben.2021.03.018