Metabolic Engineering of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii for Enhanced β-Carotene and Lutein Production

• Published in: Applied biochemistry and biotechnology Vol. 190; no. 4; pp. 1457 - 1469
• Main Authors: Rathod, Jayant Pralhad, Vira, Chaitali, Lali, Arvind M., Prakash, Gunjan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.04.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Basidiomycota - enzymology; Basidiomycota - genetics; beta Carotene - biosynthesis; Biochemistry; Biomass; Biotechnology; Carotene; Carotenoids - chemistry; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Chlamydomonas reinhardtii; Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - genetics; Chlamydomonas reinhardtii - metabolism; Chlorophyll; Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; Cloning, Molecular; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation, Fungal; Industrial Microbiology; Lutein; Lutein - biosynthesis; Lycopene; Lycopene - chemistry; Metabolic Engineering; Metabolism; Multienzyme Complexes - genetics; Photons; Photosynthesis; Phytoene synthase; RNA - genetics; Yeasts; β-Carotene; Lutein; Red yeast; β-Carotene; Phytoene-β-carotene synthase; Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
• ISSN: 0273-2289; 1559-0291
• DOI: 10.1007/s12010-019-03194-9

The metabolic engineering of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii , one of the fastest-growing microalgae, is a potential alternative for enhanced carotenoid productivity. CrtYB ( phytoene-β-carotene synthase – PBS ) gene from red yeast Xanthophyllomyces dendrorhous encodes for a bifunctional enzyme that harbours both phytoene synthase (psy) and lycopene cyclization (lcyb) activities. Heterologous expression of this bifunctional PBS gene led to 38% enhancement in β-carotene along with 60% increase in the lutein yields under low light conditions of 75 μmol photons m −2 s −1 . Short Duration-High Light induction strategy led to overall 72% and 83% increase in β-carotene and lutein yield reaching up to 22.8 mg g −1 and 8.9 mg g −1 , respectively. This is the first report of expression of heterologous bifunctional PBS gene resulting in simultaneous enhancement in β-carotene and lutein content in phototrophic engineered cells. Graphical Abstract