Augmented CO2 tolerance by expressing a single H+-pump enables microalgal valorization of industrial flue gas

Hong Il Choi, Sung-Won Hwang, Jongrae Kim, Byeonghyeok Park, EonSeon Jin, In-Geol Choi and Sang Jun Sim ()
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Hong Il Choi: Korea University
Sung-Won Hwang: Korea University
Jongrae Kim: Hanyang University
Byeonghyeok Park: Korea University
EonSeon Jin: Hanyang University
In-Geol Choi: Korea University
Sang Jun Sim: Korea University

Nature Communications, 2021, vol. 12, issue 1, 1-15

Abstract: Abstract Microalgae can accumulate various carbon-neutral products, but their real-world applications are hindered by their CO2 susceptibility. Herein, the transcriptomic changes in a model microalga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, in a high-CO2 milieu (20%) are evaluated. The primary toxicity mechanism consists of aberrantly low expression of plasma membrane H+-ATPases (PMAs) accompanied by intracellular acidification. Our results demonstrate that the expression of a universally expressible PMA in wild-type strains makes them capable of not only thriving in acidity levels that they usually cannot survive but also exhibiting 3.2-fold increased photoautotrophic production against high CO2 via maintenance of a higher cytoplasmic pH. A proof-of-concept experiment involving cultivation with toxic flue gas (13 vol% CO2, 20 ppm NOX, and 32 ppm SOX) shows that the production of CO2-based bioproducts by the strain is doubled compared with that by the wild-type, implying that this strategy potentially enables the microalgal valorization of CO2 in industrial exhaust.

Date: 2021
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-021-26325-5

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