GSTT SEMINAR: Prof Saul Purton, University College London - Title: 'Exploring chloroplast biology and biotechnology using green algae'

The green unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii represents an excellent model system for studies of chloroplast biology using both bio-chemical and molecular-genetic approaches. Over the years, we have dissected both the nuclear regulation of chloroplast genes and the mechanism of photosynthetic electron transfer. More recently, there is a growing interest in the exploitation of microalgae as recombinant platforms for the synthesis of novel bio-products. These could be biofuel molecules, speciality enzymes, nutraceuticals or therapeutic proteins such as antibodies, hormones and vaccines. The chloroplast genome is particularly attractive as a site for insertion of foreign genes since: i) genes can be targeted to precise loci, with high level and stable expression; ii) the organelle is the site of numerous biosynthetic pathways and therefore represents the obvious ‘chassis’ on which to bolt new metabolic pathways that divert the carbon fixed by photosynthesis into novel hydrocarbons, pigments, etc. I will present our recent progress on the development of advanced tools for the engineering of the Chlamydomonas chloroplast genome, and give examples of possible applications.