The N-glycans of Chlorella sorokiniana and a related strain contain arabinose but have strikingly different structures

The many emerging applications of microalgae such as Chlorella also instigate interest in their ability to conduct protein modifications such as N-glycosylation. Chlorella vulgaris has recently been shown to equip its proteins with highly O-methylated oligomannosidic N-glycans. Two other frequently occurring species names are Chlorella sorokiniana and Chlorella pyrenoidosa—even though the latter is taxonomically ill defined. We analyzed by mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy the N-glycans of type culture collection strains of C. sorokiniana and of a commercial product labeled C. pyrenoidosa. Both samples contained arabinose, which has hitherto not been found in N-glycans. Apart from this only commonality, the structures differed fundamentally from each other and from that of N-glycans of land plants. Despite these differences, the two algae lines exhibited considerable homology in their ITS1-5.8S-ITS2 rDNA sequences. These drastic differences of N-glycan structures between species belonging to the very same genus provoke questions as to the biological function on a unicellular organism.