Chlamydomonas as a model for biofuels and bio-products production

Abstract

Developing renewable energy sources is critical to maintaining the economic growth of the planet while protecting the environment. First generation biofuels focused on food crops like corn and sugarcane for ethanol production, and soybean and palm for biodiesel production. Second generation biofuels based on cellulosic ethanol produced from terrestrial plants, has received extensive funding and recently pilot facilities have been commissioned, but to date output of fuels from these sources has fallen well short of what is needed. Recent research and pilot demonstrations have highlighted the potential of algae as one of the most promising sources of sustainable liquid transportation fuels. Algae have also been established as unique biofactories for industrial, therapeutic, and nutraceutical co-products. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii's long established role in the field of basic research in green algae has paved the way for understanding algal metabolism and developing genetic engineering protocols. These tools are now being utilized in C. reinhardtii and in other algal species for the development of strains to maximize biofuels and bio-products yields from the lab to the field.

Keywords: Chlamydomonas reinhardtii; bio-products; biofuels; molecular engineering; recombinant proteins.

Figure 1

Steps to engineering a production strain of green algae. Genetic manipulation using advanced tools will result in a desired phenotype. The isolated strain will be tested for scale-up and reanalyzed for characteristics such as growth rate, population density, recombinant protein accumulation, and lipid profile. If these traits do not overcome economic constraints of production, additional genetic manipulation in the laboratory is required. Once an ideal strain is identified, fuels and co-products can be extracted from scaled-up cultures.