Review of the algal biology program within the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts

Authors

• Clifford J. Unkefer, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Richard T. Sayre, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Jon K. Magnuson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Daniel B. Anderson, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Ivan Baxter, USDA at Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
• Ian K. Balby, University of California, Los Angeles
• Judith K. Brown, University of Arizona
• Michael Carleton, Matrix Genetics, LLC
• Rose Ann Cattolico, University of Washington
• Taraka Dale, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Timothy P. Devarenne, Texas A & M University
• C. Meghan Downes, New Mexico State University
• Susan K. Dutcher, Washington University in St. Louis
• David T. Fox, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Ursula Goodenough, Washington University in St. Louis
• Jan Jaworski, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
• Jonathan E. Holladay, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• David M. Kramer, Michigan State University
• Andrew T. Koppisch, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Mary S. Lipton, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Babetta L. Marrone, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Margaret McCormick, Matrix Genetics, LLC
• István Molnár, University of Arizona
• John B. Mott, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Kimberly L. Ogden, University of Arizona
• Ellen A. Panisko, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory
• Matteo Pellegrini, University of California, Los Angeles
• Juergen Polle, CUNY Brooklyn CollegeFollow
• James W. Richardson, Texas A & M University - College Station
• Martin Sabarsky, Cellana, Inc
• Shawn R. Starkenburg, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Gary D. Stormo, Washington University in St. Louis
• Munehiro Teshima, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Scott N. Twary, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Pat J. Unkefer, Los Alamos National Laboratory
• Joshua S. Yuan, Texas A & M University
• José A. Olivares, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2017

Abstract

In 2010,when the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts (NAABB) consortiumbegan, littlewas known about themolecular basis of algal biomass or oil production. Very fewalgal genome sequenceswere available and efforts to identify the best-producing wild species through bioprospecting approaches had largely stalled after the U.S. Department of Energy's Aquatic Species Program. This lack of knowledge included how reduced carbon was partitioned into storage products like triglycerides or starch and the role played bymetabolite remodeling in the accumulation of energy-dense storage products. Furthermore, genetic transformation and metabolic engineering approaches to improve algal biomass and oil yields were in their infancy. Genome sequencing and transcriptional profiling were becoming less expensive, however; and the tools to annotate gene expression profiles under various growth and engineered conditions were just starting to be developed for algae. It was in this context that an integrated algal biology program was introduced in the NAABB to address the greatest constraints limiting algal biomass yield. This review describes the NAABB algal biology program, including hypotheses, research objectives, and strategies to move algal biology research into the twenty-first century and to realize the greatest potential of algae biomass systems to produce biofuels.

Comments

This article was originally published in Algal Research, available at DOI: 10.1016/j.algal.2016.06.002.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).