Astaxanthin Synthesis in Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii

PROTOGA recently announced that it has successfully synthesized natural astaxanthin in Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii through Microalgae Genetic Modification Platform, and is now developing related intellectual property and downstream processing research. It is reported that this is the second generation of engineering cells laid out in astaxanthin pipeline and will continue to iterate. The first generation of engineering cells has entered the pilot test stage. The synthesis of astaxanthin in Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii for industrial production would be superior in cost, productivity and quality than that of Haematococcus Pluvialis.

Astaxanthin is a natural and synthetic xanthophyll and nonprovitamin A carotenoid, with potential antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antineoplastic activities. Its antioxidant activity is 6000 times that of vitamin C and 550 times that of vitamin E. Astaxanthin has excellent performance in immune regulation, cardiovascular system maintenance, eye and brain health, skin vitality, anti-aging and other applications. Astaxanthin is often used in health care products, dietary nutrition products with health care effect and added in cosmetics with antioxidant effect.

The global astaxanthin market is expected to reach $2.55 billion by 2025 according to Grand View Research. At present, the activity of astaxanthin obtained from chemical synthesis and Phaffia rhodozyma are much lower than that from natural levo-astaxanthin derived from microalgae due to its structural optical activity. All natural levo-astaxanthin in the market comes from Haematococcus Pluvialis. However, due to its slow growth, long culture cycle and easy to be affected by environmental factors, the production capacity of Haematococcus Pluvialis is limited.

As a new source of natural products and the chassis cell of synthetic biology, microalgae has more complex metabolic network and biosynthesis advantages. Chlamydomonas Reinhardtii is the pattern chassis, known as "green yeast". PROTOGA mastered the advanced microalgae genetic editing technology and the downstream microalgae fermentation technology. At the same time, PROTOGA is developing photoautotrophic technologies .Once breeding technology is mature and can be applied on scale-production, it will raise the synthesis efficiency transforming CO2 to bio-based products.