Establishing Oleaginous Microalgae Research Models for Consolidated Bioprocessing of Solar Energy - Biotechnology in China: Biofuels and Bioenergy - page 75

Fig. 2 The phylogenetic and genomic features of Nannochloropsis genus

relative compact genome structure and simple gene models with averagely fewer
introns per gene (Fig. 2 ; unpublished data from Qingdao Institute of BioEnergy
and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences). Moreover, genetic
engineering has been demonstrated recently [ 18 ].
Several features distinguished Nannochloropsis from the existing laboratory
research models of single-cell photosynthetic organisms (Table 2 ). The demon-
strated large-scale cultivation, natural high oil productivity, eukaryotic protein-
modification systems and rich metabolic capability are among the key advantages
of Nannochloropsis when compared with most cyanobacteria. The high envi-
ronmental versatility, as well as small and compact genomes, compare favorably
with many other eukaryotic microalgae such as C. reinhardtii (genome size 120
Mb [ 13 ]) and Dunaliella salina (genome size over 600 Mb; unpublished data of
DOE Joint Genome Institute). Furthermore, these key advantages suggest the need
and the feasibility to develop Nannochloropsis into an platform organism for
CBP-SE, where the natural or engineered genome and cell can serve as a chassis
for plugging in additional functional modules, such as those product-oriented
biosynthetic pathways, to enable customized production of the plethora of biofuel
molecules and biochemicals directly from sunlight and CO 2 under large-scale
cultivation. Under such a concept of ''Synthetic Nannochloropsis'' (Syn-Nanno),
Nannochloropsis can potentially fill the vacancy as the ''photosynthetic yeast''
that supports a much wider scope of CBP-SE applications, similar to the

role of Saccharomyces cerevisia in the sugar-based traditional fermentation

industry (Fig. 3 ).