Afsaneh Mohkami - Biotechnology and Plant Breeding Department, College of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
Hassan Marashi - Biotechnology and Plant Breeding Department, College of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
Farajolah Shahriary Ahmadi - Biotechnology and Plant Breeding Department, College of Agriculture, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran
Masoud Tohidfar - Tissue Culture and Gene Transformation Department, Agriculture Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (ABRII), Karaj,Iran

Amorpha-4,11-diene synthase (ADS) is a key enzyme in biochemical pathway of the antimalarial agent artemisinin. An Agrobacterium-mediated transformation was carried out to express a synthetic ADS gene in green microalgaChlamydomonas reinhardtii strain 125C with bacterial strains GV3101 and LBA4404. The foreign gene wasoptimized based on codon usage bias of the microalga. Integration of the ADS in nuclear genome of C. reinhardtiiwas confirmed by polymerase chain reaction assay. The transgenic colonies cultured on selective medium turned yellow after three days and gradually died. Transformation procedure, growth habit of the transgenic microalgae together with probable causes of transformants loss is discussed. The present study is the first investigation for production of ADS enzyme in a microalgal system

Amorpha-4,11-diene synthase, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Agrobacterium and Transformation