Dunaliella as an attractive candidate for molecular farming

Abstract

Pharmaceutical recombinant proteins are widely used in human healthcare. At present, several protein expression systems are available to generate therapeutic proteins. These conventional systems have distinct advantages and disadvantages in protein yielding; in terms of ease of manipulation, the time required from gene transformation to protein purification, cost of production and scaling-up capitalization, proper folding and stability of active proteins. Depending on the research goal and priorities, a special system may be selected for protein expression. However, considering the limited variety of organisms currently used and their usage restrictions, there are still much more pharmaceutical proteins waiting to be economically and efficiently produced. Distinguished biological and technical features of microalgae Dunaliella such as inexpensive medium requirement, fast growth rate, the ease of manipulation, easy scaling up procedure, facility of milking in bioreactors and the ability of post-translational modifications make this microorganism an attractive candidate for molecular farming.

Transcriptome sequencing and annotation of the microalgae Dunaliella tertiolecta: Pathway description and gene discovery for production of next-generation biofuels

“…D. tertiolecta is a flagellated unicellular marine microalga belonging to the Chlorophyta phylum. The rational for selecting D. tertiolecta as a non-model organism in this study lies in its ability to produce large quantities of lipids and starch (up to 67% and 27% of organism dry weight, respectively), rapid growth rate in hyper saline environments which aids in maintenance of pure cultures, and lack of a rigid cell wall which eases product extraction and genetic manipulation [22-27]. These unique physiological and structural traits gives D. tertiolecta considerable advantages over model organisms such Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as feedstock for biofuel production.…”

Effects of Light Intensity and Nitrogen Starvation on Glycerolipid, Glycerophospholipid, and Carotenoid Composition in Dunaliella tertiolecta Culture

“…It facilitates the extraction process because of its lack of a rigid cell wall, making it a promising resource for producing biofuel and pharmaceutical materials such as carotenoids [4]. Until now, most of studies on D. tertiolecta have only focused on analyzing content and composition of fatty acids and measuring cell growth or total lipid content [5], [6].…”

The role of photo-osmotic adaptation in semi-continuous culture and lipid particle release from Dunaliella viridis

“…In an integrated production model, extraction of the co-products present in the biomass will likely continue to play a large role for the economic viability of producing the feedstock (Wijffels et al 2010 ). Furthermore, recent advances in genetic manipulation of Dunaliella for expression of recombinant therapeutics could significantly expand the prospects for molecular farming in this species (Barzegari et al 2010 ; Polle and Song 2009 ).…”