Breakthrough to improve biofuel production from algae

Researchers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego have developed a method that could greatly improve the production of biofuels from tiny algae.

As reported in a recent online edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Scripps graduate student Emily Trentacoste led the development of a method to genetically modify a key component of growth in biofuel production.

In the search for ways to reduce dependence on human consumption of traditional fossil fuels, thereby increasing concentrations of carbon dioxide and its harmful effects on the environment, the production of economically viable fuels from sources

There is considerable research in algal biofuels production related lipid barrier oils, fat molecules that store energy that can be used for fuel.

A significant jump in eliminating this obstacle in the production of lipids, Trentacoste and colleagues used a set of gene expression data (called “transcriptomics” laboratory) to target a specific enzyme in a group of microscopic algae known as diatoms (Thalassiosira pseudonana). By metabolic engineering of the “suppression” of fat-reducing enzymes, called lipases, researchers could increase lipid without compromising growth. Genetically modified strains could be developed widely produced in other species, researchers say.

“These results demonstrate that specific metabolic manipulations can be used to increase the accumulation of relevant molecules to the fuel […] Without negative effects on growth”Explains Trentacoste. “We have demonstrated that engineering of this pathway is a unique and practical approach to increase the performance of the lipids.”

“Scientifically it is a great achievement”Says Mark Hildebrand, professor of marine biology at Scripps and co-author of the study. “Five years ago people said could never get more lipids without adversely affecting growth. In this paper we demonstrate that there is no intrinsic barrier and gives us hope of new things we can try; opens the door to much more work to do.”

In addition to reducing the cost of biofuel production by increasing lipid content, the new method leads to an improvement in the rate of production of algal biofuels crops due to effective selection process used in the new study.

“Maintaining high growth rates and high biomass accumulation is essential for the production of biofuels from algae to large scale economic”The authors point out in the article.

“It seems particularly appropriate that UC San Diego-Scripps is showing much leadership in the field of sustainable algal biofuels, for example, the California Center for Algae Biotechnology as a starting point, given the history of this institution that plays a important role in climate change research”Said paper co-author William Gerwick, a distinguished professor of ocean science and farmacéuticasen at the Center for Marine Biotechnology and Biomedicine at Scripps and the Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California, San Diego. “However, these developments do not occur in isolation, and the current project is a great example of how different laboratories can collaborate to achieve higher than those who possibly would get separate developments.”

Besides Trentacoste, Hildebrand and Gerwick, are also co-authors of the research Roshan Shrestha, Sarah Smith, Corine Gle, and Aaron Hartmann.

The National Institute of Health, the California Energy Commission, the Office of Scientific Research of the Air Force, the Ministry of Energy and the National Science Foundation supported the research.

SOURCE: Scripps Institute of Oceanography.