This past summer, Rosetta Green Ltd. — an Israeli company working on biofuels and agricultural biotechnologies using microRNAs — announced production of the human enzyme alpha galactosidase A (a-GAL A) using microalgae. The company plans to test the protein's biological activity for treating Fabry disease. Production of this enzyme-replacement therapy in microalgae could reduce healthcare costs for those afflicted. Rosetta Green calls microalgae “a highly promising resource for sustainable production of a wide range of biomaterials.” One advantage is that algae-expressed proteins will be free from toxins and viral agents that can be present in preparations derived from mammalian cell culture.

CEO Amir Avniel said, “Algae can successfully produce recombinant proteins suitable for pharmaceutical applications. Rosetta Green's expertise in plant genomics can be used to identify specific microRNA genes and develop algae with an improved trait for the production of a-GAL A. We strongly believe that microRNAs have a substantial advantage in the ability to improve various traits in algae and plants.”