increased the lag phase in the C. reinhardtii cultures (Figure 1A). In contrast, decreasing the temperature from 38°C to 34°C and finally to 30°C did not significantly
affect the growth of either wild-type (Figure 1B) or mutant strains of Synechococcus sp. PCC 7002 under the light intensities and CO2 concentrations used in this study (data not shown). Therefore subsequent co-culture optimizations were conducted at 30°C.