Background: Eukaryotic algae have recently emerged as hosts for metabolic engineering efforts to generate heterologous isoprenoids. Isoprenoid metabolic architectures, flux, subcellular localization, and transport dynamics have not yet been fully elucidated in algal hosts.
Results: In this study, we investigated the accessibility of different isoprenoid precursor pools for C sesquiterpenoid generation in the cytoplasm and chloroplast of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii using the Abies grandis bisabolene synthase (AgBS) as a reporter.