Rapid biodegradation of microplastics generated from bio-based thermoplastic polyurethane.

The accumulation of microplastics in various ecosystems has now been well documented and recent evidence suggests detrimental effects on various biological processes due to this pollution. Accumulation of microplastics in the natural environment is ultimately due to the chemical nature of widely used petroleum-based plastic polymers, which typically are inaccessible to biological processing. One way to mitigate this crisis is adoption of plastics that biodegrade if released into natural environments. In this work, we generated microplastic particles from a bio-based, biodegradable thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU-FC1) and demonstrated their rapid biodegradation via direct visualization and respirometry. Furthermore, we isolated multiple bacterial strains capable of using TPU-FC1 as a sole carbon source and characterized their depolymerization products. To visualize biodegradation of TPU materials as real-world products, we generated TPU-coated cotton fabric and an injection molded phone case and documented biodegradation by direct visualization and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), both of which indicated clear structural degradation of these materials and significant biofilm formation.

Harnessing genetic engineering to drive economic bioproduct production in algae.

Our reliance on agriculture for sustenance, healthcare, and resources has been essential since the dawn of civilization. However, traditional agricultural practices are no longer adequate to meet the demands of a burgeoning population amidst climate-driven agricultural challenges. Microalgae emerge as a beacon of hope, offering a sustainable and renewable source of food, animal feed, and energy. Their rapid growth rates, adaptability to non-arable land and non-potable water, and diverse bioproduct range, encompassing biofuels and nutraceuticals, position them as a cornerstone of future resource management. Furthermore, microalgae's ability to capture carbon aligns with environmental conservation goals. While microalgae offers significant benefits, obstacles in cost-effective biomass production persist, which curtails broader application. This review examines microalgae compared to other host platforms, highlighting current innovative approaches aimed at overcoming existing barriers. These approaches include a range of techniques, from gene editing, synthetic promoters, and mutagenesis to selective breeding and metabolic engineering through transcription factors.

Utilization of lignocellulosic hydrolysates for photomixotrophic chemical production in Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942.

To meet the need for environmentally friendly commodity chemicals, feedstocks for biological chemical production must be diversified. Lignocellulosic biomass are an carbon source with the potential for effective use in a large scale and cost-effective production systems. Although the use of lignocellulosic biomass lysates for heterotrophic chemical production has been advancing, there are challenges to overcome. Here we aim to investigate the obligate photoautotroph cyanobacterium Synechococcus elongatus PCC 7942 as a chassis organism for lignocellulosic chemical production. When modified to import monosaccharides, this cyanobacterium is an excellent candidate for lysates-based chemical production as it grows well at high lysate concentrations and can fix CO2 to enhance carbon efficiency. This study is an important step forward in enabling the simultaneous use of two sugars as well as lignocellulosic lysate. Incremental genetic modifications enable catabolism of both sugars concurrently without experiencing carbon catabolite repression. Production of 2,3-butanediol is demonstrated to characterize chemical production from the sugars in lignocellulosic hydrolysates. The engineered strain achieves a titer of 13.5 g L-1 of 2,3-butanediol over 12 days under shake-flask conditions. This study can be used as a foundation for industrial scale production of commodity chemicals from a combination of sunlight, CO2, and lignocellulosic sugars.

Fluctuating pH for efficient photomixotrophic succinate production.

Cyanobacteria are attracting increasing attention as a photosynthetic chassis organism for diverse biochemical production, however, photoautotrophic production remains inefficient. Photomixotrophy, a method where sugar is used to supplement baseline autotrophic metabolism in photosynthetic hosts, is becoming increasingly popular for enhancing sustainable bioproduction with multiple input energy streams. In this study, the commercially relevant diacid, succinate, was produced photomixotrophically. Succinate is an important industrial chemical that can be used for the production of a wide array of products, from pharmaceuticals to biopolymers. In this system, the substrate, glucose, is transported by a proton symporter and the product, succinate, is hypothesized to be transported by another proton symporter, but in the opposite direction. Thus, low pH is required for the import of glucose and high pH is required for the export of succinate. Succinate production was initiated in a pH 7 medium containing bicarbonate. Glucose was efficiently imported at around neutral pH. Utilization of bicarbonate by CO2 fixation raised the pH of the medium. As succinate, a diacid, was produced, the pH of the medium dropped. By repeating this cycle with additional pH adjustment, those contradictory requirements for transport were overcome. pH affects a variety of biological factors and by cycling from high pH to neutral pH processes such as CO2 fixation rates and CO2 solubility can vary. In this study the engineered strains produced succinate during fluctuating pH conditions, achieving a titer of 5.0 g L-1 after 10 days under shake flask conditions. These results demonstrate the potential for photomixotrophic production as a viable option for the large-scale production of succinate.

Biodegradation of renewable polyurethane foams in marine environments occurs through depolymerization by marine microorganisms.

Accumulation of plastics in the Earth's oceans is causing widespread disruption to marine ecosystems. To help mitigate the environmental burden caused by non-degradable plastics, we have previously developed a commercially relevant polyurethane (PU) foam derived from renewable biological materials that can be depolymerized into its constituent monomers and consumed by microorganisms in soil or compost. Here we demonstrate that these same PU foams can be biodegraded by marine microorganisms in the ocean and by isolated marine microorganisms in an ex situ seawater environment. Using Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, we tracked molecular changes imparted by microbial breakdown of the PU polymers; and utilized scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to demonstrate the loss of physical structure associated with colonization of microorganisms on the PU foams. We subsequently enriched, isolated, and identified individual microorganisms, from six marine sites around San Diego, CA, that are capable of depolymerizing, metabolizing, and accumulating biomass using these PU foams as a sole carbon source. Analysis using SEM, FTIR, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GCMS) confirmed that these microorganisms depolymerized the PU into its constitutive diols, diacids, and other PU fragments. SEM and FTIR results from isolated organismal biodegradation experiments exactly matched those from ex situ and ocean biodegradation samples, suggesting that these PU foam would undergo biodegradation in a natural ocean environment by enzymatic depolymerization of the PU foams and eventual uptake of the degradation products into biomass by marine microorganisms, should these foams unintentionally end up in the marine environment, as many plastics do.

Improved high-throughput screening technique to rapidly isolate Chlamydomonas transformants expressing recombinant proteins.

The single-celled eukaryotic green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has long been a model system for developing genetic tools for algae, and is also considered a potential platform for the production of high-value recombinant proteins. Identifying transformants with high levels of recombinant protein expression has been a challenge in this organism, as random integration of transgenes into the nuclear genome leads to low frequency of cell lines with high gene expression. Here, we describe the design of an optimized vector for the expression of recombinant proteins in Chlamydomonas, that when transformed and screened using a dual antibiotic selection, followed by screening using fluorescence activated cell sorting (FACS), permits rapid identification and isolation of microalgal transformants with high expression of a recombinant protein. This process greatly reduces the time required for the screening process, and can produce large populations of recombinant algae transformants with between 60 and 100% of cells producing the recombinant protein of interest, in as little as 3 weeks, that can then be used for whole population sequencing or individual clone analysis. Utilizing this new vector and high-throughput screening (HTS) process resulted in an order of magnitude improvement over existing methods, which normally produced under 1% of algae transformants expressing the protein of interest. This process can be applied to other algal strains and recombinant proteins to enhance screening efficiency, thereby speeding up the discovery and development of algal-derived recombinant protein products. KEY POINTS: • A protein expression vector using double-antibiotic resistance genes was designed • Double antibiotic selection causes fewer colonies with more positive for phenotype • Coupling the new vector with FACS improves microalgal screening efficiency > 60.

Novel cis-regulatory elements as synthetic promoters to drive recombinant protein expression from the Chlamydomonas reinhardtii nuclear genome.

Eukaryotic green microalgae represent a sustainable, photosynthetic biotechnology platform for generating high-value products. The model green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has already been used to generate high value bioproducts such as recombinant proteins and terpenoids. However, low, unstable, and variable nuclear transgene expression has limited the ease and speed of metabolic engineering and recombinant protein expression in this system. Here, novel genetic devices for transgene expression in C. reinhardtii have been developed by identifying cis-regulatory DNA elements capable of driving high transgene expression in C. reinhardtii promoters using de novo motif discovery informatics approaches. Thirteen putative motifs were synthesized as concatemers, linked to a common minimal basal promoter, and assayed for their activity to drive expression of a yellow fluorescent protein reporter gene. Following transformation of the vectors into C. reinhardtii by electroporation, in vivo measurements of yellow fluorescent protein expression by flow cytometry revealed that five of the DNA motifs analyzed displayed significantly higher reporter expression compared to the basal promoter control. Two of the concatemerized motifs, despite being much smaller minimal cis-regulatory elements, drove reporter expression at levels approaching that of the conventionally-used AR1 promoter. This analysis provides insight into C. reinhardtii promoter structure and gene regulation, and provides a new toolbox of cis-regulatory elements that can be used to drive transgene expression at a variety of expression levels.

Developing algae as a sustainable food source.

Current agricultural and food production practices are facing extreme stress, posed by climate change and an ever-increasing human population. The pressure to feed nearly 8 billion people while maintaining a minimal impact on the environment has prompted a movement toward new, more sustainable food sources. For thousands of years, both the macro (seaweed and kelp) and micro (unicellular) forms of algae have been cultivated as a food source. Algae have evolved to be highly efficient at resource utilization and have proven to be a viable source of nutritious biomass that could address many of the current food production issues. Particularly for microalgae, studies of their large-scale growth and cultivation come from the biofuel industry; however, this knowledge can be reasonably translated into the production of algae-based food products. The ability of algae to sequester CO2 lends to its sustainability by helping to reduce the carbon footprint of its production. Additionally, algae can be produced on non-arable land using non-potable water (including brackish or seawater), which allows them to complement rather than compete with traditional agriculture. Algae inherently have the desired qualities of a sustainable food source because they produce highly digestible proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates, and are rich in essential fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. Although algae have yet to be fully domesticated as food sources, a variety of cultivation and breeding tools exist that can be built upon to allow for the increased productivity and enhanced nutritional and organoleptic qualities that will be required to bring algae to mainstream utilization. Here we will focus on microalgae and cyanobacteria to highlight the current advancements that will expand the variety of algae-based nutritional sources, as well as outline various challenges between current biomass production and large-scale economic algae production for the food market.

Recombinant production of a functional SARS-CoV-2 spike receptor binding domain in the green algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Recombinant production of viral proteins can be used to produce vaccine antigens or reagents to identify antibodies in patient serum. Minimally, these proteins must be correctly folded and have appropriate post-translation modifications. Here we report the production of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein Receptor Binding Domain (RBD) in the green algae Chlamydomonas. RBD fused to a fluorescent reporter protein accumulates as an intact protein when targeted for ER-Golgi retention or secreted from the cell, while a chloroplast localized version is truncated. The ER-retained RBD fusion protein was able to bind the human ACE2 receptor, the host target of SARS-CoV-2, and was specifically out-competed by mammalian cell-produced recombinant RBD, suggesting that the algae produced proteins are sufficiently post-translationally modified to act as authentic SARS-CoV-2 antigens. Because algae can be grown at large scale very inexpensively, this recombinant protein may be a low cost alternative to other expression platforms.

Microalgae as a future food source.

One of the key challenges that we face in the 21st century is the need to feed an ever-increasing human population with increasingly limited natural resources. Even today it is estimated that roughly 1 out of 9 people in the world are undernourished, of which the most important factor is protein-energy malnutrition. By establishing microalgae as a new food and feed platform, we have the opportunity to increase the supply of these essential products to address global demands in a more efficient and environmentally sustainable way. Many types of algae are nutritionally complete foods, their yields outperform most plant crops, and there is a growing set of tools to develop improved strains of algae. Similar improvements were achieved in traditional crops through thousands of years of breeding and strain selection, whereas with the newest genetic engineering tools and advanced strain selection techniques, similar changes can be implemented in microalgae in just a few years. Here we describe different strategies that could be used to enhance the nutritional content, productivity, and organoleptic traits of algae to help drive development of this new crop. Clearly developing more efficient, sustainable, and nutritious foods and feed would be an enormous benefit for the planet, and algae represents an opportunity to develop a new crop that would complement traditional agriculture, and one that could potential result in a more efficient means to meet the world's food and feed supply.

Recent progress and future challenges in algal biofuel production.

Modern society is fueled by fossil energy produced millions of years ago by photosynthetic organisms. Cultivating contemporary photosynthetic producers to generate energy and capture carbon from the atmosphere is one potential approach to sustaining society without disrupting the climate. Algae, photosynthetic aquatic microorganisms, are the fastest growing primary producers in the world and can therefore produce more energy with less land, water, and nutrients than terrestrial plant crops. We review recent progress and challenges in developing bioenergy technology based on algae. A variety of high-value products in addition to biofuels can be harvested from algal biomass, and these may be key to developing algal biotechnology and realizing the commercial potential of these organisms. Aspects of algal biology that differentiate them from plants demand an integrative approach based on genetics, cell biology, ecology, and evolution. We call for a systems approach to research on algal biotechnology rooted in understanding their biology, from the level of genes to ecosystems, and integrating perspectives from physical, chemical, and social sciences to solve one of the most critical outstanding technological problems.

Immunotherapy using algal-produced Ara h 1 core domain suppresses peanut allergy in mice.

Peanut allergy is an IgE-mediated adverse reaction to a subset of proteins found in peanuts. Immunotherapy aims to desensitize allergic patients through repeated and escalating exposures for several months to years using extracts or flours. The complex mix of proteins and variability between preparations complicates immunotherapy studies. Moreover, peanut immunotherapy is associated with frequent negative side effects and patients are often at risk of allergic reactions once immunotherapy is discontinued. Allergen-specific approaches using recombinant proteins are an attractive alternative because they allow more precise dosing and the opportunity to engineer proteins with improved safety profiles. We tested whether Ara h 1 and Ara h 2, two major peanut allergens, could be produced using chloroplast of the unicellular eukaryotic alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. C. reinhardtii is novel host for producing allergens that is genetically tractable, inexpensive and easy to grow, and is able to produce more complex proteins than bacterial hosts. Compared to the native proteins, algal-produced Ara h 1 core domain and Ara h 2 have a reduced affinity for IgE from peanut-allergic patients. We further found that immunotherapy using algal-produced Ara h 1 core domain confers protection from peanut-induced anaphylaxis in a murine model of peanut allergy.

Refactoring the Six-Gene Photosystem II Core in the Chloroplast of the Green Algae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Oxygenic photosynthesis provides the energy to produce all food and most of the fuel on this planet. Photosystem II (PSII) is an essential and rate-limiting component of this process. Understanding and modifying PSII function could provide an opportunity for optimizing photosynthetic biomass production, particularly under specific environmental conditions. PSII is a complex multisubunit enzyme with strong interdependence among its components. In this work, we have deleted the six core genes of PSII in the eukaryotic alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and refactored them in a single DNA construct. Complementation of the knockout strain with the core PSII synthetic module from three different green algae resulted in reconstitution of photosynthetic activity to 85, 55, and 53% of that of the wild-type, demonstrating that the PSII core can be exchanged between algae species and retain function. The strains, synthetic cassettes, and refactoring strategy developed for this study demonstrate the potential of synthetic biology approaches for tailoring oxygenic photosynthesis and provide a powerful tool for unraveling PSII structure-function relationships.

Natural isoforms of the Photosystem II D1 subunit differ in photoassembly efficiency of the water-oxidizing complex.

Oxygenic photosynthesis efficiency at increasing solar flux is limited by light-induced damage (photoinhibition) of Photosystem II (PSII), primarily targeting the D1 reaction center subunit. Some cyanobacteria contain two natural isoforms of D1 that function better under low light (D1:1) or high light (D1:2). Herein, rates and yields of photoassembly of the Mn4CaO5 water-oxidizing complex (WOC) from the free inorganic cofactors (Mn(2+), Ca(2+), water, electron acceptor) and apo-WOC-PSII are shown to differ significantly: D1:1 apo-WOC-PSII exhibits a 2.3-fold faster rate-limiting step of photoassembly and up to seven-fold faster rate to the first light-stable Mn(3+) intermediate, IM1*, but with a much higher rate of photoinhibition than D1:2. Conversely, D1:2 apo-WOC-PSII assembles slower but has up to seven-fold higher yield, achieved by a higher quantum yield of charge separation and slower photoinhibition rate. These results confirm and extend previous observations of the two holoenzymes: D1:2-PSII has a greater quantum yield of primary charge separation, faster [P680 (+) Q A (-) ] charge recombination and less photoinhibition that results in a slower rate and higher yield of photoassembly of its apo-WOC-PSII complex. In contrast, D1:1-PSII has a lower quantum yield of primary charge separation, a slower [P680 (+) Q A (-) ] charge recombination rate, and faster photoinhibition that together result in higher rate but lower yield of photoassembly at higher light intensities. Cyanobacterial PSII reaction centers that contain the high- and low-light D1 isoforms can tailor performance to optimize photosynthesis at varying light conditions, with similar consequences on their photoassembly kinetics and yield. These different efficiencies of photoassembly versus photoinhibition impose differential costs for biosynthesis as a function of light intensity.

In Metabolic Engineering of Eukaryotic Microalgae: Potential and Challenges Come with Great Diversity.

The great phylogenetic diversity of microalgae is corresponded by a wide arrange of interesting and useful metabolites. Nonetheless metabolic engineering in microalgae has been limited, since specific transformation tools must be developed for each species for either the nuclear or chloroplast genomes. Microalgae as production platforms for metabolites offer several advantages over plants and other microorganisms, like the ability of GMO containment and reduced costs in culture media, respectively. Currently, microalgae have proved particularly well suited for the commercial production of omega-3 fatty acids and carotenoids. Therefore most metabolic engineering strategies have been developed for these metabolites. Microalgal biofuels have also drawn great attention recently, resulting in efforts for improving the production of hydrogen and photosynthates, particularly triacylglycerides. Metabolic pathways of microalgae have also been manipulated in order to improve photosynthetic growth under specific conditions and for achieving trophic conversion. Although these pathways are not strictly related to secondary metabolites, the synthetic biology approaches could potentially be translated to this field and will also be discussed.

Selenocystamine improves protein accumulation in chloroplasts of eukaryotic green algae.

Eukaryotic green algae have become an increasingly popular platform for recombinant proteins production. In particular, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, has garnered increased attention for having the necessary biochemical machinery to produce vaccines, human antibodies and next generation cancer targeting immunotoxins. While it has been shown that chloroplasts contain chaperones, peptidyl prolylisomerases and protein disulfide isomerases that facilitate these complex proteins folding and assembly, little has been done to determine which processes serve as rate-limiting steps for protein accumulation. In other expression systems, as Escherichia coli, Chinese hamster ovary cells, and insect cells, recombinant protein accumulation can be hampered by cell's inability to fold the target polypeptide into the native state, resulting in aggregation and degradation. To determine if chloroplasts' ability to oxidize proteins that require disulfide bonds into a stable conformation is a rate-limiting step of protein accumulation, three recombinant strains, each expressing a different recombinant protein, were analyzed. These recombinant proteins included fluorescent GFP, a reporter containing no disulfide bonds; Gaussia princeps luciferase, a luminescent reporter containing disulfide bonds; and an immunotoxin, an antibody-fusion protein containing disulfide bonds. Each strain was analyzed for its ability to accumulate proteins when supplemented with selenocystamine, a small molecule capable of catalyzing the formation of disulfide bonds. Selenocystamine supplementation led to an increase in luciferase and immunotoxin but not GFP accumulation. These results demonstrated that selenocystamine can increase the accumulation of proteins containing disulfide bonds and suggests that a rate-limiting step in chloroplast protein accumulation is the disulfide bonds formation in recombinant proteins native structure.

Alga-produced malaria transmission-blocking vaccine candidate Pfs25 formulated with a human use-compatible potent adjuvant induces high-affinity antibodies that block Plasmodium falciparum infection of mosquitoes.

A vaccine to prevent the transmission of malaria parasites from infected humans to mosquitoes is an important component for the elimination of malaria in the 21st century, yet it remains neglected as a priority of malaria vaccine development. The lead candidate for Plasmodium falciparum transmission-blocking vaccine development, Pfs25, is a sexual stage surface protein that has been produced for vaccine testing in a variety of heterologous expression systems. Any realistic malaria vaccine will need to optimize proper folding balanced against cost of production, yield, and potentially reactogenic contaminants. Here Chlamydomonas reinhardtii microalga-produced recombinant Pfs25 protein was formulated with four different human-compatible adjuvants (alum, Toll-like receptor 4 [TLR-4] agonist glucopyranosal lipid A [GLA] plus alum, squalene-oil-in-water emulsion, and GLA plus squalene-oil-in-water emulsion) and compared for their ability to induce malaria transmission-blocking antibodies. Alga-produced recombinant Pfs25 plus GLA plus squalene-oil-in-water adjuvant induced the highest titer and avidity in IgG antibodies, measured using alga-produced recombinant Pfs25 as the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) antigen. These antibodies specifically reacted with the surface of P. falciparum macrogametes and zygotes and effectively prevented parasites from developing within the mosquito vector in standard membrane feeding assays. Alga-produced Pfs25 in combination with a human-compatible adjuvant composed of a TLR-4 agonist in a squalene-oil-in-water emulsion is an attractive new vaccine candidate that merits head-to-head comparison with other modalities of vaccine production and administration.

Chlamydomonas as a model for biofuels and bio-products production.

Developing renewable energy sources is critical to maintaining the economic growth of the planet while protecting the environment. First generation biofuels focused on food crops like corn and sugarcane for ethanol production, and soybean and palm for biodiesel production. Second generation biofuels based on cellulosic ethanol produced from terrestrial plants, has received extensive funding and recently pilot facilities have been commissioned, but to date output of fuels from these sources has fallen well short of what is needed. Recent research and pilot demonstrations have highlighted the potential of algae as one of the most promising sources of sustainable liquid transportation fuels. Algae have also been established as unique biofactories for industrial, therapeutic, and nutraceutical co-products. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii's long established role in the field of basic research in green algae has paved the way for understanding algal metabolism and developing genetic engineering protocols. These tools are now being utilized in C. reinhardtii and in other algal species for the development of strains to maximize biofuels and bio-products yields from the lab to the field.

Production of recombinant proteins in microalgae at pilot greenhouse scale.

Recombinant protein production in microalgae chloroplasts can provide correctly folded proteins in significant quantities and potentially inexpensive costs compared to other heterologous protein production platforms. The best results have been achieved by using the psbA promoter and 5' untranslated region (UTR) to drive the expression of heterologous genes in a psbA-deficient, non-photosynthetic, algal host. Unfortunately, using such a strategy makes the system unviable for large scale cultivation using natural sunlight for photosynthetic growth. In this study we characterized eight different combinations of 5' regulatory regions and psbA coding sequences for their ability to restore photosynthesis in a psbA-deficient Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, while maintaining robust accumulation of a commercially viable recombinant protein driven by the psbA promoter/5'UTR. The recombinant protein corresponded to bovine Milk Amyloid A (MAA), which is present in milk colostrum and could be used to prevent infectious diarrhea in mammals. This approach allowed us to identify photosynthetic strains that achieved constitutive production of MAA when grown photosynthetically in 100 L bags in a greenhouse. Under these conditions, the maximum MAA expression achieved was 1.86% of total protein, which corresponded to 3.28 mg/L of culture medium. Within our knowledge, this is the first report of a recombinant protein being produced this way in microalgae.

An improved ARS2-derived nuclear reporter enhances the efficiency and ease of genetic engineering in Chlamydomonas.

The model alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has been used to pioneer genetic engineering techniques for high-value protein and biofuel production from algae. To date, most studies of transgenic Chlamydomonas have utilized the chloroplast genome due to its ease of engineering, with a sizeable suite of reporters and well-characterized expression constructs. The advanced manipulation of algal nuclear genomes has been hampered by limited strong expression cassettes, and a lack of high-throughput reporters. We have improved upon an endogenous reporter gene - the ARS2 gene encoding an arylsulfatase enzyme - that was first cloned and characterized decades ago but has not been used extensively. The new construct, derived from ARS2 cDNA, expresses significantly higher levels of reporter protein and transforms more efficiently, allowing qualitative and quantitative screening using a rapid, inexpensive 96-well assay. The improved arylsulfatase expression cassette was used to screen a new transgene promoter from the ARG7 gene, and found that the ARG7 promoter can express the ARS2 reporter as strongly as the HSP70-RBCS2 chimeric promoter that currently ranks as the best available promoter, thus adding to the list of useful nuclear promoters. This enhanced arylsulfatase reporter construct improves the efficiency and ease of genetic engineering within the Chlamydomonas nuclear genome, with potential application to other algal strains.