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Starch Overproduction by Means of Algae

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Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the state of knowledge of starch production as an ultimate energy reserve in algae. It includes a survey of recent discoveries on controls that direct the metabolism of algal cells towards starch hyper-accumulation with the aim of providing starch-enriched biomass for the production of bioethanol as a biofuel of the future. We also outline basic research from the 1960s, from which the recent starch research stems, although the use of algal starch for biofuel production was not considered at that time. The principles of, and basic approaches to a directed synthesis of starch are described in both laboratory experiments and large scale-up outdoor photobioreactors.

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Abbreviations

FdUrd:

5-fluorodeoxyuridine

CHX:

Cycloheximide

DW:

dry weight

PBR:

photobioreactor

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by the projects EUREKA of the Ministry of Education Youth and Sports of the Czech Republic (no. OE 221; no. OE 09025), by project CREST of Japan Science and Technology Agency.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Cell Cycles of Algae, Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic (ASCR), Opatovický mlýn, 37981, Třeboň, Czech Republic

    Vilém Zachleder

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Institute of Chemical Technology Prague, Technická 5, 37981, Prague 6, Czech Republic

    Irena Brányiková

Authors
  1. Vilém Zachleder
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  2. Irena Brányiková
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Correspondence to Vilém Zachleder .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA

    Rakesh Bajpai

  2. Chemical and Biological Engineering, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee, USA

    Aleš Prokop

  3. Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Louisiana at Lafayette, Lafayette, Louisiana, USA

    Mark Zappi

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Zachleder, V., Brányiková, I. (2014). Starch Overproduction by Means of Algae. In: Bajpai, R., Prokop, A., Zappi, M. (eds) Algal Biorefineries. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7494-0_9

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