Microalgal Transcriptomics

The advent of the omics era has revolutionized the study of microalgal biology. Although few marine microalgal genomes are available, several transcriptomes have been sequenced. Careful annotation and study of microalgal transcriptomes provide unprecedented insight into the diverse transcriptional programs operating within these organisms. Here, Lifeasible provides specialized solutions for microalgal transcriptomics.

Microalgal Transcriptomics

Transcriptomics is the technique of studying the transcriptome of an organism using high-throughput methods (e.g., microarray analysis) as the sum of all its RNA transcripts. Biodiesel or ethanol derived from lipids or starch produced by microalgae can overcome many sustainability challenges previously attributed to petroleum-based fuels and first-generation plant-based biofuels. However, the lack of microalgal genome sequences has limited gene-based biofuel feedstock optimization studies. In the post-genomic era, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and other histological techniques have provided strong technical support to explain the molecular mechanisms of microalgal biological processes. Among them, transcriptomics is the earliest and most widely used technique. Transcriptomics can be used to analyze the potential molecular mechanisms of algae with or without reference genomes in response to environmental changes.

Fig 1. Transcriptome-wide analysis of Chlorella reveals auxin-induced carotenogenesis pathway in green microalgae. (Alsenani F, et al., 2019)

Customized Solutions

The successful application of transcriptomic techniques in algal research demonstrates their importance and supporting role in studying algal physiological mechanisms. Our scientists have successfully established model organisms of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, Thalassiosira pseudonana, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, and Emiliania huxleyi for microalgal transcriptome sequencing. Lifeasible provides custom microalgal transcriptomics solutions to analyze the expression profile of specific genes under specific conditions and to infer the function of certain genes based on transcriptome information. Our strategy consists of the following:

• Identifying individual transcription units of microalgae and determining the expression level of each expressed gene.
• Identifying the expression of unique transcripts restricted by cellular conditions or cell type and precisely assessing each transcription site's transcript diversity.
• Examing protein factors that control cellular transcriptional cassettes.

Our goals are primarily to help advance your research in microalgae, including:

• Assessment of microalgal transcriptome expression levels.
• Provides precise transcript boundaries and other transcript-focused features in microalgae.
• Analysis of microalgal transcription factor-DNA interactions.

Our Customized Process for Microalgal Transcriptomics

1. Extract all mRNAs of a given organism or tissue at a specific time.
2. Construct a cDNA library for high-throughput sequencing.
3. Bioinformatics analysis.

Our Available Techniques

• Northern Blot Hybridization
• Quantitative Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
• Microarray
• Gene Expression Sequence Analysis
• Massively Parallel Signature Sequencing
• Expressed Sequence Tags (ESTs)

At Lifeasible, our microalgal transcriptomics service allows us to cost-effectively sequence many model algal species to help you better understand the molecular mechanisms by which algae respond to environmental changes. We are your trusted partner in all aspects of microalgae research. If you are interested in our solutions for microalgal transcriptomics, please do not hesitate to contact us.