Interplay between CO and light governs carbon partitioning in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.

Increasing CO availability is a common practice at the industrial level to trigger biomass productivity in microalgae cultures. Still, the consequences of high CO availability in microalgal cells exposed to relatively high light require further investigation. Here, the photosynthetic, physiologic, and metabolic responses of the green microalga model Chlamydomonas reinhardtii were investigated in high or low CO availability conditions: high CO enabled higher biomass yields only if sufficient light energy was provided.

CO supply modulates lipid remodelling, photosynthetic and respiratory activities in Chlorella species.

Microalgae represent a potential solution to reduce CO emission exploiting their photosynthetic activity. Here, the physiologic and metabolic responses at the base of CO assimilation were investigated in conditions of high or low CO availability in two of the most promising algae species for industrial cultivation, Chlorella sorokiniana and Chlorella vulgaris. In both species, high CO availability increased biomass accumulation with specific increase of triacylglycerols in C.