Brief Communication: Differential degradation of exogenous DNA in microalgal cell lysates
- 1Phycobloom
Abstract
Chlorella sorokiniana is an industrially important microalga, but its genetic manipulation remains limited by poor transformation efficiency. Although several barriers have been proposed, the role of intracellular nuclease activity has received little attention. Here, we compared the degradation of exogenous double-stranded DNA in whole-cell lysates from transformation-recalcitrant (Chlorella sorokiniana and Tetradesmus obliquus) and transformation-proficient (Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Microchloropsis gaditana, and Nannochloropsis oceanica) microalgae. C. sorokiniana rapidly degraded both linear and plasmid DNA, while T. obliquus exhibited intermediate activity. In contrast, no detectable degradation was observed in the transformation-proficient species. DNA degradation in C. sorokiniana occurred within minutes, and nuclease activity in both recalcitrant species was inhibited by EDTA and Zn2+, consistent with a metal ion-dependent endonuclease. These findings suggest that intracellular nuclease activity may represent an underexplored barrier to exogenous DNA stability during transformation and provide a potential target for improving genetic transformation of recalcitrant microalgae.
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BibTeX
@misc{kumari2026brief,
title = {{Brief Communication: Differential degradation of exogenous DNA in microalgal cell lysates}},
author = {E. Kumari and N. Baiden and J. Verruto and O. Marsden and J. Waite and I. Hu},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.23.753703},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753703v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Brief Communication: Differential degradation of exogenous DNA in microalgal cell lysates
AU - E. Kumari
AU - N. Baiden
AU - J. Verruto
AU - O. Marsden
AU - J. Waite
AU - I. Hu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/23
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.09.23.753703
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.09.23.753703v1
AB - Chlorella sorokiniana is an industrially important microalga, but its genetic manipulation remains limited by poor transformation efficiency. Although several barriers have been proposed, the role of intracellular nuclease activity has received little attention. Here, we compared the degradation of exogenous double-stranded DNA in whole-cell lysates from transformation-recalcitrant (Chlorella sorokiniana and Tetradesmus obliquus) and transformation-proficient (Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Microchloropsis gaditana, and Nannochloropsis oceanica) microalgae. C. sorokiniana rapidly degraded both linear and plasmid DNA, while T. obliquus exhibited intermediate activity. In contrast, no detectable degradation was observed in the transformation-proficient species. DNA degradation in C. sorokiniana occurred within minutes, and nuclease activity in both recalcitrant species was inhibited by EDTA and Zn2+, consistent with a metal ion-dependent endonuclease. These findings suggest that intracellular nuclease activity may represent an underexplored barrier to exogenous DNA stability during transformation and provide a potential target for improving genetic transformation of recalcitrant microalgae.
ER -