A novel alphaproteobacterial ectosymbiont promotes the growth of the hydrocarbon-rich green alga Botryococcus braunii.

ABSTRACT: Botryococcus braunii is a colony-forming green alga that accumulates large amounts of liquid hydrocarbons within the colony. The utilization of B. braunii for biofuel production is however hindered by its low biomass productivity. Here we describe a novel bacterial ectosymbiont (BOTRYCO-2) that confers higher biomass productivity to B. braunii. 16S rDNA analysis indicated that the sequence of BOTRYCO-2 shows low similarity (<90%) to cultured bacterial species and located BOTRYCO-2 within a phylogenetic lineage consisting of uncultured alphaproteobacterial clones. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) studies and transmission electric microscopy indicated that BOTRYCO-2 is closely associated with B. braunii colonies. Interestingly, FISH analysis of a water bloom sample also found BOTRYC

SUBMITTER: Tanabe Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4486929 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature