High-efficiency formate-driven cultivation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii for sustainable dietary protein production

Abstract

Low cost and easy scaled-up non-food-source proteins with high quality are emergent requirements for human beings. Starting from solar energy and CO₂, solar fuels derived microalgae cultivations own large theoretical potentials. Here, using editable green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as the model, the high spatiotemporal conversion of formate cultivation was proposed, and the quality of the production was evaluated. The results showed, formate metabolism by C. reinhardtii is light-dependent, and based on the dosage-dependent relationship, as high as 200 mM formate can be used for the enhanced photosynthetic cultivation of C. reinhardtii when the inoculation was increased to OD₇₅₀ = 5, with a conversion ratio of above 0.6 g biomass/g formate, and less effects on its photosynthetic activities. By determining the amino acid components, the biomass of photosynthetic cultivation with formate or acetate, and fermentation on acetate are proved as high-quality protein sources, according to FAO/WHO’s rule. It’s interesting that the sulfur-contained amino acids in photosynthetic cultivated C. reinhardtii were significantly less than fermented products, which provided a new indication for the regulation of nutrient composition of C. reinhardtii. This work not only verified the possibility of using high concentration formate as the enhancing carbon source in the photosynthetic cultivation of C. reinhardtii, but also showed high quality protein source can be produced by C. reinhardtii starting from the solar fuels.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords

Solar fuels / Protein / Microalgae / Formate / Carbon neutralization / Biological Sciences / Biochemistry and Cell Biology

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Funding

Ministry of Science and Technology of the People's Republic of China(2022YFC3401802); National Natural Science Foundation of China(22088102); Yulin University(YLU-DNL Fund 2023003); Chinese Academy of Sciences(323GJHZ2022006MI)