DATE2026.03.02 #Press Releases

Recombinant protein production system using light and carbon dioxide "CZON-PURE".

Disclaimer: machine translated by DeepL which may contain errors.

Establishment of a Highly Efficient Recombinant Protein Purification System Using Alga

A high-yield protein expression platform in the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae

Summary 

A research group led by Project Associate Professor Yuko Mogi and Associate Professor Yamato Yoshida at the Graduate School of Science, The University of Tokyo, and Associate Professor Fumi Yagisawa at the Research Infrastructure Management Center, University of the Ryukyus, has established the protein production system "CZON-PURE" using the single-celled red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae (CZON). to obtain highly efficient and pure recombinant proteins. The research group has established "CZON-PURE”," a protein production system that uses the single-celled red alga C.merolae (Note 1) to obtain recombinant proteins with high efficiency and purity.

In this study, we identified the HiX promoter, which shows particularly high gene expression throughout the cell cycle in schizon, and developed an expression vector using this promoter, and showed that recombinant protein can be stably expressed and accumulated at high levels. Furthermore, taking advantage of the fact that schizon has no cell wall, we have demonstrated that the protein can be extracted by a simple operation of freezing and lysing the cells and purified to a high purity by general affinity purification or immunoprecipitation. It has been extremely difficult to purify sufficient amounts of recombinant proteins from photosynthetic organisms such as algae and plants in the past, but this achievement is expected to expand the options for clean and safe recombinant protein production without the use of expensive antibiotics or organic substances and with very little risk of contamination by viruses or bacteria. The results are expected to open up new options for clean and safe recombinant protein production without the use of expensive antibiotics or organic substances and with minimal risk of viral or bacterial contamination.

Publication Information

Journal name	Journal of Cell Science
Title of paper	A high-yield protein expression platform in the unicellular red alga Cyanidioschyzon merolae
Authors	Yuko Mogi, Shogo Tsushima, Shotaro Nagai, Shinichi Gima, Fumi Yagisawa and Yamato Yoshida* (*Responsible author)
DOI	10.1242/jcs.264207