Algae: An alternative to the higher plant system in gene farming

Abstract

Microalgae based systems have the potential to combine the advantages of plants with features of microorganisms, thus becoming an alternative for gene farming. Advantages such as a short time from gene to protein, inexpensive cultivation, fast growth and improved biosafety aspects make microalgae interesting candidates for novel molecular farming systems. As a model organism, the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is one of the best studied organisms in this field and provides established methods for transformation, markers and reporters. Its ability for expression of proteins with biopharmaceutical or biotechnological relevance, such as antibodies, enzymes or antigenic peptides, has been demonstrated in a number of cases. Although no commercialized product has been reported so far, the application of algal systems for certain fields, such as edible vaccines, are increasingly gaining interest. Aside from biopharmaceuticals, an additional field for the use of algae for pharmaceutical products could involve novel metabolites, improved by metabolic engineering.