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 conf irmed the photosynthetic characteristics of the wild type and LHC-1, and th ese were retained generally in the continuous cultures used for evaluating productivity. The maximum productivity was 1.5 times higher in LHC-1 than t hat in the wild type. The photosynthetic productivity efficiency was higher in LHC-1 than in the wild type. These results indicate that the improvemen t in productivity can be attributed to the improved photosynthetic producti vity efficiency. We conclude that the technique of reducing the content of light-harvesting pigment is not only available for blue-green microalgae, b ut also for green microalgae.