The establishment of new protein expression system using N starvation inducible promoters in Chlorella

Sci Rep. 2020 Jul 29;10(1):12713. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-69620-9.

Abstract

Chlorella is a unicellular green microalga that has been used in fields such as bioenergy production and food supplementation. In this study, two promoters of N (nitrogen) deficiency-inducible Chlorella vulgaris N Deficiency Inducible (CvNDI) genes were isolated from Chlorella vulgaris UTEX 395. These promoters were used for the production of a recombinant protein, human granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (hG-CSF) in Chlorella vulgaris UTEX 395 and Chlorella sp. ArM0029B. To efficiently secrete the hG-CSF, the protein expression vectors incorporated novel signal peptides obtained from a secretomics analysis of Chlorella spp. After a stable transformation of those vectors with a codon-optimized hG-CSF sequence, hG-CSF polypeptides were successfully produced in the spent media of the transgenic Chlorella. To our knowledge, this is the first report of recombinant protein expression using endogenous gene components of Chlorella.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Algal Proteins / genetics
  • Algal Proteins / metabolism
  • Chlorella vulgaris / genetics
  • Chlorella vulgaris / growth & development*
  • Chlorella vulgaris / metabolism
  • Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor / genetics
  • Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Nitrogen / metabolism*
  • Organisms, Genetically Modified / growth & development
  • Organisms, Genetically Modified / metabolism
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic*
  • Protein Engineering
  • Recombinant Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • Algal Proteins
  • Recombinant Proteins
  • Granulocyte Colony-Stimulating Factor
  • Nitrogen