Photosynthetic cultivation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii with formate as a novel carbon source to the protein production

Formate, which can be produced from CO2 with green energy, has received increasing attentions as a carbon source for bioconversion. Microalgae have the native advantages of use captured light energy to facilitate the formate assimilation. However, the low efficient natural conversion and inhibition to the electron transfer chain obstacle its applications' development. Here, using green microalga C. reinhardtii 21gr as the model, an approach to improve formate-based biomass and protein production was raised and verified through isotope labeling experiments, and the pathway of formate which presented in photosynthetic organisms was related to amino acids. By the enhancement of chloroplast glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (cGAPDH) expression, together with the adaptive laboratory evolution (ALE) over regular lethal dose of formate, the yields of the biomass and proteins were promoted with 34 % and 55 % to the wild type, respectively. Indicated by the photosynthetic activity variations, it was proposed that the balance of cellular energy and reduction power is necessary for microalgae to achieve high productivity with formate. Further investigated by proteomics, 6-phosphogluconate dehydrogenase (6-PGD) was identified as the key enzyme to formate and nitrogen's co-assimilation.