Large-scale screening of natural genetic resource in the hydrocarbon-producing microalga Botrycoccus braunii identified novel fast-growing strains
Open accessAbstract
Algal biofuel research aims to make a renewable, carbon–neutral biofuel by using oil-producing microalgae. The freshwater microalga Botryococcus braunii has received much attention due to its ability to accumulate large amounts of petroleum-like hydrocarbons but suffers from slow growth. We performed a large-scale screening of fast-growing strains with 180 strains isolated from 22 ponds located in a wide geographic range from the tropics to cool-temperate. A fast-growing strain, Showa, which recorded the highest productivities of algal hydrocarbons to date, was used as a benchmark. The initial screening was performed by monitoring optical densities in glass tubes and identified 9 wild strains with faster or equivalent growth rates to Showa. The biomass-based assessments showed that biomass and hydrocarbon productivities of these strains were 12–37% and 11–88% higher than that of Showa, respectively. One strain, OIT-678 established a new record of the fastest growth rate in the race B strains with a doubling time of 1.2 days. The OIT-678 had 36% higher biomass productivity, 34% higher hydrocarbon productivity, and 20% higher biomass density than Showa at the same cultivation conditions, suggesting the potential of the new strain to break the record for the highest productivities of hydrocarbons.
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Nutrient restriction, including nitrogen starvation, can increase lipid content and lipid productivity in some microalgae.
“There is evidence of an increase in lipid content and lipid productivity in some microalgae under nitrogen starvation conditions [32, 33].”
From Nitrogen and phosphorus stress as a tool to induce lipid production in microalgae (2023) · cites this paper as [32]
In Results and discussion, under “Comparisons to other oleaginous microalgae” (page not provided), the paper says nutrient depletion initiates lipid accumulation in many oleaginous microalgae and that lipid productivity can be high during the accumulation phase. It does not establish that nitrogen starvation increases both lipid content and overall lipid productivity; it cautions that average productivity over the full cultivation period should decrease. (LLM, conf=0.85)
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Nitrogen and phosphorus stress as a tool to induce lipid production in microalgae
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“There is evidence of an increase in lipid content and lipid productivity in some microalgae under nitrogen starvation conditions [32, 33].”
BackgroundNanoparticle applications in Algal-biorefinery for biofuel production
Ali, H. E. A., El-fayoumy, E. A., Soliman, R. M., Elkhatat, A., Al-Meer, S., Elsaid, K., Hussein, H. A., Zul Helmi Rozaini, M., & Azmuddin Abdullah, M. (2024) · Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews · doi:10.1016/j.rser.2023.114267 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
- Authors
- Kawamura, K., Nishikawa, S., Hirano, K., Ardianor, A., Nugroho, R. A., & Okada, S.
- Affiliations
- Osaka Institute of Technology (JP)
- University of Palangka Raya (ID)
- Mulawarman University (ID)
- The University of Tokyo (JP)
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2021-04-02
- Volume
- 11
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 7368-7368
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC8018972
- OpenAlex
- W3148866325
- Cited by
- 21
- References
- 63
- Citations by year
- 2026: 1 · 2025: 1 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 4 · 2022: 9
- FWCI
- 0.89
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- Funders
- Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (20K06215)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Microbial Metabolic Engineering and Bioproduction
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
- Keywords
- Botryococcus braunii, microalgal biofuels, strain screening, fast-growing strains, biomass productivity, doubling time, freshwater microalgae
- MeSH terms
- Chlorophyta, Fresh Water, Humans, Hydrocarbons, Biomass, Biofuels, High-Throughput Screening Assays, Microalgae
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