Application of the CRISPR/Cas system for genome editing in microalgae

• Published in: Applied microbiology and biotechnology Vol. 103; no. 8; pp. 3239 - 3248
• Main Authors: Zhang, Yu-Ting, Jiang, Jia-Yi, Shi, Tian-Qiong, Sun, Xiao-Man, Zhao, Quan-Yu, Huang, He, Ren, Lu-Jing
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01.04.2019; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Algae; Alternative energy sources; Analysis; Antioxidants; Aquatic microorganisms; bioenergy; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biotechnology; CRISPR; CRISPR-Associated Protein 9 - genetics; CRISPR-Cas Systems - genetics; CRISPR-Cas technology; Editing; Efficiency; Eukaryotes; eukaryotic cells; Fatty acids; Freshwater lakes; Gene Editing; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation; Gene Targeting; Genes; Genetic aspects; Genetic Engineering; Genetic transformation; Genome editing; Genomes; high-value products; Life Sciences; Metabolites; Methods; Microalgae; Microalgae - genetics; Microbial Genetics and Genomics; Microbial mats; Microbiology; Mini-Review; Nuclease; nucleases; Oceans; Peptides; Pharmaceuticals; Polyunsaturated fatty acids; Proteins; Renewable energy; RNA, Guide, CRISPR-Cas Systems - genetics; Transcription; transcription (genetics); Transcription activator-like effector nucleases; Transformation, Genetic; zinc finger motif; Zinc finger proteins; Transformation; Microalgae; Genome editing; sgRNA; CRISPR/Cas
• ISSN: 0175-7598; 1432-0614; 1432-0614
• DOI: 10.1007/s00253-019-09726-x

Microalgae are arguably the most abundant single-celled eukaryotes and are widely distributed in oceans and freshwater lakes. Moreover, microalgae are widely used in biotechnology to produce bioenergy and high-value products such as polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), bioactive peptides, proteins, antioxidants and so on. In general, genetic editing techniques were adapted to increase the production of microalgal metabolites. The main genome editing tools available today include zinc finger nucleases (ZFNs), transcriptional activator-like effector nucleases (TALENs), and the clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats (CRISPR)/Cas nuclease system. Due to its high genome editing efficiency, the CRISPR/Cas system is emerging as the most important genome editing method. In this review, we summarized the available literature on the application of CRISPR/Cas in microalgal genetic engineering, including transformation methods, strategies for the expression of Cas9 and sgRNA, the CRISPR/Cas9-mediated gene knock-in/knock-out strategies, and CRISPR interference expression modification strategies.