Engineering astaxanthin accumulation reduces photoinhibition and increases biomass productivity under high light in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

BACKGROUND: Astaxanthin is a highly valuable ketocarotenoid with strong antioxidative activity and is natively accumulated upon environmental stress exposure in selected microorganisms. Green microalgae are photosynthetic, unicellular organisms cultivated in artificial systems to produce biomass and industrially relevant bioproducts. While light is required for photosynthesis, fueling carbon fixation processes, application of high irradiance causes photoinhibition and limits biomass productivity. RESULTS: Here, we demonstrate that engineered astaxanthin accumulation in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii conferred high light tolerance, reduced photoinhibition and improved biomass productivity at high irradiances, likely due to strong antioxidant properties of constitutively accumulating astaxanthin. In competitive co-cultivation experiments, astaxanthin-rich Chlamydomonas reinhardtii outcompeted its corresponding parental background strain and even the fast-growing green alga Chlorella vulgaris. CONCLUSIONS: Metabolic engineering inducing astaxanthin and ketocarotenoids accumulation caused improved high light tolerance and increased biomass productivity in the model species for microalgae Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Thus, engineering microalgal pigment composition represents a powerful strategy to improve biomass productivities in customized photobioreactors setups. Moreover, engineered astaxanthin accumulation in selected strains could be proposed as a novel strategy to outperform growth of other competing microalgal strains. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13068-022-02173-3.