Improved productivity by reduction of the content of light-harvesting pigment in Chlamydomonas perigranulata

The effects on productivity of the light-harvesting pigment in cells of the marine Chlamydomonas perigranulata were examined using the wild type and a mutant with a lower level of the light-harvesting pigment (LHC-1). We confirmed the photosynthetic characteristics of the wild type and LHC-1, and these were retained generally in the continuous cultures used for evaluating productivity. The maximum productivity was 1.5 times higher in LHC-1 than that in the wild type. The photosynthetic productivity efficiency was higher in LHC-1 than in the wild type. These results indicate that the improvement in productivity can be attributed to the improved photosynthetic productivity efficiency. We conclude that the technique of reducing the content of light-harvesting pigment is not only available for blue-green microalgae, but also for green microalgae.