Overexpression of the soybean transcription factor GmDof4 significantly enhances the lipid content of Chlorella ellipsoidea

The hetero-expression of a transcription factor GmDof4 gene from soybean can significantly increase the lipid content but not affect the growth rate of C. ellipsoidea under mixotrophic culture conditions. The increase in lipid content could be attributed to the large number of genes with regulated expression. In particular, the acetyl-coenzyme A carboxylase gene expression and enzyme activity were significantly upregulated in the transgenic cells. Our research provides a new way to increase the lipid content of microalgae by introducing a specific transcription factor to microalgae strains that can be used for the biofuel and food industries.