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Revision as of 10:34, 16 August 2011

UNIVERSITY OF EAST ANGLIA-JOHN INNES CENTRE

ALGAE

We are planning to transform the algal species Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. This is a single celled, photosynthetic eukaryote. We will be using the specific strain CC-4350 cw15-302 mt+. This strain is biflagellate with a high transformation frequency, due in part to its lack of a cell wall. Its genome has been sequenced, allowing us to research its codon bias.

There are twenty common amino acids, but over sixty codon configurations. So, each amino acid can be coded for by multiple codons. The code is thus said to be degenerate. However, most organisms display a preference for one codon or another, and so prefer to express a given amino acid by a certain codon. This is known as the codon bias. We researched the codon bias for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, and plan to use this information to optimise the Biobricks we wish to use for expression in C. reinhardtii.

ALGAE

Name:

Attributes:

Can be transformed by a variety of methods – electroporation; the bacterium Agrobacterium tumorfaciens; glass beads; or by a biolistic particle delivery system (gene gun)

Eukaryotic photosynthetic organism – therefore its post translational modifications will more closely reflect those seen in plants and other higher organisms when compared to, for example, E.coli

Difficulties of use:

Many strains have a cell wall, and therefore prove difficult to transform

Growing time of around a week in cultures or plates

Low transformation frequency due to genome integration of plasmids

Growth conditions:

Requires TAP (tris-acetone phosphate) media

Must be grown in sunlight

Must be grown at 25°C

Must be grown in an incubator shaker to ensure adequate aeration of the media with carbon dioxide