Rationales and Approaches for Studying Metabolism in Eukaryotic Microalgae

• Main Authors: Daniel Veyel, Alexander Erban, Ines Fehrle, Joachim Kopka, Michael Schroda
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2014-04-01
• Series: Metabolites
• Subjects: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii; metabolic engineering; biofuels; metabolite profiling; GC-MS; systems biology
• Online Access: http://www.mdpi.com/2218-1989/4/2/184

The generation of efficient production strains is essential for the use of eukaryotic microalgae for biofuel production. Systems biology approaches including metabolite profiling on promising microalgal strains, will provide a better understanding of their metabolic networks, which is crucial for metabolic engineering efforts. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii represents a suited model system for this purpose. We give an overview to genetically amenable microalgal strains with the potential for biofuel production and provide a critical review of currently used protocols for metabolite profiling on Chlamydomonas. We provide our own experimental data to underpin the validity of the conclusions drawn.