Breaking the cell wall for efficient DNA delivery to diatoms
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Diatoms produce 20% of the world’s fixed organic carbon yet remain underutilized as cell factories due to limited genetic engineering tools. Here, we present optimized electroporation and polyethylene glycol (PEG) transformation methods for the model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, enabling delivery of DNA and Cas9 ribonucleoprotein complexes with high efficiency. Transformants are recovered with as little as 1 ng of DNA, and linear or circular episomes as large as 55.6 kb are successfully introduced. The optimized electroporation protocol also reveals an unexpected capability: episomes can be assembled directly in the algal cell through non-homologous or homology-driven repair mechanisms, a process we term diatom in vivo assembly (DIVA). In addition, the PEG approach is adapted to successfully transform Thalassiosira pseudonana, demonstrating the applicability of our methods for engineering other diatom species. These tools could be used to accelerate diatom synthetic biology projects and, therefore, the development of sustainable technologies.
Date Issued
2026-02-19
Date Acceptance
2026-01-12
Citation
Nature Communications, 2026, 17 (1)
ISSN
2041-1723
Publisher
Nature Portfolio
Journal / Book Title
Nature Communications
Volume
17
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© The Author(s) 2026 Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
License URL
Identifier
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/41571648
PII: 10.1038/s41467-026-68562-6
Subjects
Diatoms
Electroporation
Cell Wall
Plasmids
Polyethylene Glycols
DNA
Gene Transfer Techniques
Transformation, Genetic
Genetic Engineering
Publication Status
Published
Coverage Spatial
England
Article Number
1848
Date Publish Online
2026-01-22