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Updated: Jul 19, 2025

Isolation and Characterization of Intact Phycobilisome in Cyanobacteria
Published on: November 10, 2021
Expression of bacterial phosphite dehydrogenase confers phosphite availability in a unicellular red alga
Ikki Kobayashi1, Sousuke Imamura2, Ryuichi Hirota3
1Laboratory for Chemistry and Life Science, Institute of Innovative Research, Tokyo Institute of Technology.
Abstract:
Microalgae are promising cell factories for producing value-added products. Large-scale microalgal cultivation suffers from invasion by contaminating microorganisms. Since most contaminating organisms cannot utilize phosphite as a unique phosphorus source, phosphite-utilizing ability may provide a growth advantage against contaminating organisms and solve this problem. Studies showed that microorganisms, typically unable to metabolize phosphite, can utilize phosphite by expressing exogenous phosphite dehydrogenase. Here, we constructed Cyanidioschyzon merolae strains introduced with the phosphite dehydrogenase gene, ptxD, from Ralstonia sp. 4506. The ptxD-introduced strains grew in a phosphite-dependent manner, with the phosphite-related growth rate almost matching that with phosphate as sole phosphorus source.
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