The Oil-Producing Microalga Botryococcus Braunii: A Method for Isolation from the Natural Environment and Perspectives on the Role of Ecological Studies in Algal Biofuel Production
The oil-producing microalgae Botryococcusbraunii accumulates petroleum-like hydrocarbons in large quantitiesthat can be processed into renewable biofuels such as biodiesel. Algal biofuel is expected to become a next-generation, carbon-neutral bioenergy source, as microalgal oils are made from carbon dioxide fixed byphotosynthesis, but industrial-scale algal biofuel production has not yet been achieved. Algal biofuel research tendsto be laboratory-based, such as for bioreactor optimization and the genetic engineering of algae, but ecologicalresearch conducted in the field, such as investigating wild algae ecology in natural environments, promisesbreakthrough potential in algal biofuel studies. This paper aims to introduce a simple method for isolating B. brauniifrom natural environments and our recent work on a DNA-based method for the detection of B. brauniiin naturalenvironments, and to discuss how ecological studies may contribute to the development of the algal biofuelproduction.
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