Production of antigens in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii: green microalgae as a novel source of recombinant proteins.

Recombinant small-scale proteins are produced in a number of systems, from bacteria like Escherichia coli, through lower eukaryotes like baker's yeast, up to mammalian cell cultures. However, the need for safe and cheap sources of large amounts of recombinant proteins for different purposes, including material sciences, diagnostics, and, of course, medical therapy, has forced the development of alternative production systems. Green microalgae are cheap and easily grown and offer a high protein content, which would seem to make them ideal hosts for the large-scale sustainable production of recombinant proteins in the future. In selected species, recombinant DNA can be introduced into the genomes of the nucleus, the chloroplast, and even the mitochondria, and thus the system offers both prokaryotic (chloroplast, mitochondria) and eukaryotic translation systems for a tailored expression of virtually any protein.