Researchers Find Chemical Triggers for Oil Production in Microalgae

Researchers at the University of California (UC), Davis have discovered several small bioactive compounds that increase oil productivity in green microscopic algae, a potential source of biodiesel and other "green" fuels. The full research paper appears online in the journal ACS Chemical Biology.

The UC Davis researchers took an approach similar to that used for therapeutic drug discovery to modulate lipid pathways in commercially viable oil-producing microalgae. This approach identified the chemical triggers for growth and oil production based on a microplate screening consisting of a pilot collection of bioactive molecules and four oleaginous microalgae strains which have been previously described as valuable for commercial biofuel applications. The lead compounds from the microplate screening were further monitored in larger cultures and the lipids produced were quantified and characterized.

The researchers identified several small molecules that significantly increased lipid productivity and may serve as promising probes of microalgae lipid pathways. Based on large culture experiments, they estimated that lipid productivity increased by up to 84 percent without decreasing the growth rate. Some of these chemical triggers would be cost-effective when scaled up to a 50,000 liter pond, according to their calculation. Among the promising compounds identified were common antioxidants such as epigallocatechin gallate, found in green tea, and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), a common food preservative.