Chloroplast Dual Divergent Promoter Plasmid for Heterologous Protein Expression in Tetraselmis suecica (Chlorophyceae, Chlorodendrales).

The eukaryotic green microalga Tetraselmis suecica is commonly used for aquaculture purposes because of its high stress tolerance and ease of culture in a wide spectrum of environments; they are therefore suitable candidates for biotechnology applications. To date, no data are available regarding chloroplast transformation vectors based on specific endogenous promoters and homologous targeting regions. We report on the identification of Tetraselmis suecica genes encoding the ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase large subunit protein, the photosystem II D1 protein and the ATP synthase CF1-beta subunit protein together with their untranslated regions (5'UTR, 3'UTR).