Agrobacterium-Mediated Transformation of Three Freshwater Microalgal Strains

Microalgal transformation has gained interest in recent years. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation remains as the most efficient method for the development of transgenic plants and microalgae due to its wide host range, inexpensive procedure and transfer of large segments of DNA. In the present study, three different microalgal species were isolated from freshwater environment and identified based on the morphological characteristics and ITS-2 region amplification. Agrobacterium-mediated transformation was successful for the isolates Chlorella sp., Ankistrodesmus sp and Scenedesmus bajacalifornicus. Gene integration and expression was confirmed by PCR amplification of hptII and GUS histochemical assay. A. tumifaciens contamination was checked by amplification of npt II gene (kanamycin resistant) which lies outside the T-border. Based on GUS assay, transformation efficiencies were found to be 12.25% for Chlorella sp. 2.96% for Scenedesmus bajacalifornicus and 3.5% for Ankistrodesmus sp.