Nuclear Transformation of the Marine Pennate Diatom Nitzschia sp. Strain NIES-4635 by Multi-Pulse Electroporation

Nitzschia is one of the largest genera of diatoms found in a range of aquatic environments, from freshwater to seawater. This genus contains evolutionarily and ecologically unique species, such as those that have lost photosynthetic capacity or those that live symbiotically in dinoflagellates. Several Nitzschia species have been used as indicators of water pollution. Recently, Nitzschia species have attracted considerable attention in the field of biotechnology. In this study, a transformation method for the marine pennate diatom Nitzschia sp. strain NIES-4635, isolated from the coastal Seto Inland Sea, was established. Plasmids containing the promoter/terminator of the fucoxanthin chlorophyll a/c binding protein gene (fcp, or Lhcf) derived from Nitzschia palea were constructed and introduced into cells by multi-pulse electroporation, resulting in 500 μg/mL nourseothricin-resistant transformants with transformation frequencies of up to 365 colonies per 10⁸ cells. In addition, when transformation was performed using a new plasmid containing a promoter derived from a diatom-infecting virus upstream of the green fluorescent protein gene (gfp), 44% of the nourseothricin-resistant clones exhibited GFP fluorescence. The integration of the genes introduced into the genomes of the transformants was confirmed by Southern blotting. The Nitzschia transformation method established in this study will enable the transformation this species, thus allowing the functional analysis of genes from the genus Nitzschia, which are important species for environmental and biotechnological development.