Highly Efficient Genetic Transformation Methods for the Marine Oleaginous Diatom Fistulifera solaris.

The oleaginous diatom Fistulifera solaris is a promising producer of biofuel owing to the high content of the lipids. A genetic transformation technique by microparticle bombardment for this diatom was already established. However, the transformation efficiency was significantly lower than those of other diatoms.

Assessment on the oil accumulation by knockdown of triacylglycerol lipase in the oleaginous diatom Fistulifera solaris.

Microalgae are promising producers of biofuel due to higher accumulation of triacylglycerol (TAG). However, further improvement of the lipid metabolism is critical for feasible application of microalgae in industrial production of biofuel. Suppression of lipid degradation pathways is a promising way to remarkably increase the lipid production in model diatoms.

Algal biomass production by phosphorus recovery and recycling from wastewater using amorphous calcium silicate hydrates.

The phosphorous supply crisis is a major challenge for a sustainable society, and the algal industry is not unrelated to this crisis. Recycling phosphorus from sewage wastewater is a potential way to address this issue. We previously developed amorphous calcium silicate hydrates (aCSH) as excellent phosphorus recovery materials.

Selection and characterization of microalgae with potential for nutrient removal from municipal wastewater and simultaneous lipid production.

Wastewater treatment, along with the simultaneous production of valuable chemical compounds, including lipids by microalgae is a challenging but attractive study. Towards this goal, the candidate microalgae were selected from culture collections or isolated from wastewater in this study. The initial screening test using microalgae revealed that various eukaryotic as well as prokaryotic microalgae showed steady growth in municipal wastewater samples.

Characterization of a novel marine unicellular alga, Pseudoneochloris sp. strain NKY372003 as a high carbohydrate producer.

Production of biofuels and fine chemicals from biomass-derived carbohydrates through biorefinery attracts much attention because it is recognized as an environmentally friendly process. Microalgae can serve as promising carbohydrate producers for biorefinery rather than woody and crop biomass due to high biomass productivity, high CO fixation, and no competition with food production. However, microalgae with high carbohydrate productivity have not been well investigated despite intensive studies of microalgal lipid production.