ABSTRACT
For over a hundred years, unicellular green algae of the genus Dunaliella have been used as model systems in various studies, including salt stress and osmoregulation, photosynthesis, secondary carotenoid metabolism, UV stress, and adaptation to low pH. In particular, D. salina, D. tertiolecta, and D. acidophila have been frequently used by researchers. But in spite of their use as model algae, they have historically presented two major hurdles: 1. Genetic crosses could not be performed on a routine basis, and 2. No transformation system existed. Recent reports, however, have shown that it is indeed possible to reliably perform genetic crosses with many Dunaliella species and have also demonstrated the transformation of different species, such as D. tertiolecta, D. salina, and D. viridis. This chapter reviews the life cycle of Dunaliella and summarizes the current development status of transformation systems for Dunaliella algae.
