Engineering of an endogenous phytoene desaturase gene as a dominant selectable marker for Chlamydomonas reinhardtii transformation and enhanced biosynthesis of carotenoids

•A point mutation in C. reinhardtii PDS (L505F) enhanced desaturation activity.•The point mutation greatly promoted norflurazon resistance.•CrPDS-L505F was a dominant selectable marker for high-efficiency transformation.•Overexpression of CrPDS-L505F increased the production of carotenoids.

A phytoene desaturase (PDS) gene was cloned and characterized from the unicellular green microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Functional complementation analysis revealed C. reinhardtii PDS (CrPDS) catalyzes the conversion of phytoene to the colored carotenoid ζ-carotene. A single amino acid substitution, L505F, enhanced its desaturation activity by 29%, as indicated by an in vitro enzymatic assay. In addition, CrPDS-L505F exhibited 27.7-fold higher resistance to the herbicide norflurazon. Glass bead-mediated delivery displayed a high transformation efficiency of C. reinhardtii with CrPDS-L505F, demonstrating clearly that the engineered endogenous CrPDS is a dominant selectable marker for C. reinhardtii and possibly for other green algae. Furthermore, the expression of PDS could enhance the intracellular carotenoid accumulation of transformants, opening up the possibility of engineering the carotenogenic pathway for improved carotenoid production in microalgae.