Genome scalpel invented for industrial microalgae to efficiently turn carbon dioxide into biofuel

A single-celled alga undergoes genome surgery to remove non-essential parts. This can lead to a most efficient cellular factory for producing sustainable biofuels from sunlight and carbon dioxide.

Researchers from the Qingdao Institute of BioEnergy and Bioprocess Technology (QIBEBT) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) have stripped a hundred-kilobase genome from a type of oil-producing microalgae, knocking out genes non-essential for it to function. By doing so, they have created a 'genome scalpel' that can trim microalgal genomes rapidly and creatively.

The 'minimal genome' microalgae produced is potentially useful as a model organism for further study of the molecular and biological function of every gene, or as a 'chassis' strain for synthetic biologists to augment for customized production of biomolecules such as biofuels or bioplastics.

Creation of a 'minimal genome' – a genome stripped of all duplicated or apparently non-functional 'junk genes'can be very useful for investigating fundamental questions about genetic function and for designing – cell factories that produce valuable compounds.

For the first time, researchers from QIBEBT have produced a genome with targeted deletions, of hundred kilobases in size each, for a type of algae called Nannochloropsis oceanica.