Evaluation of novel starch-deficient mutants of Chlorella sorokiniana for hyper-accumulation of lipids.

ABSTRACT: When green algae are exposed to physiological stresses such as nutrient deprivation, growth is arrested and the cells channel fixed carbon instead into storage compounds, accumulating first starch granules and then lipid bodies containing triacylglycerides. In recent years there has been significant interest in the commercial exploitation of algal lipids as a sustainable source of biodiesel. Since starch and lipid biosynthesis involves the same C3 precursor pool, it has been proposed that mutations blocking starch accumulation should result in increased lipid yields, and indeed several studies have supported this. The fast-growing, thermotolerant alga Chlorella sorokiniana represents an attractive strain for industrial cultivation. We have therefore generated and characterized starc

SUBMITTER: Vonlanthen S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4706179 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature