Abstract
The green colonial alga Botryococcus braunii is characterized by the ability to produce and accumulate large amounts of hydrocarbons. We isolated and established an axenic clonal strain of B. braunii B70 and investigated the effects of organic carbon sources, including glucose, mannose, fructose, galactose, or acetate, on growth under light and dark conditions. This algal strain had the capacity to grow photo-, mixo-, or heterotrophically. Growth was promoted substantially following exposure of the algae to glucose or mannose under light exposure. Cells could grow under continuous darkness with glucose or mannose. In the presence of glucose under light or dark conditions, cell and colony size, and the intracellular granules containing oil, were markedly larger than those cultured without glucose.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Prof. Kunimitsu Kaya of the University of Tsukuba, Japan for providing data on the analysis of hydrocarbons in strain B70. This study was supported partly by a fund from the Japanese Ministry of the Environment, the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and the Japan Science and Technology Agency.
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Tanoi, T., Kawachi, M. & Watanabe, M.M. Effects of carbon source on growth and morphology of Botryococcus braunii . J Appl Phycol 23, 25–33 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-010-9528-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-010-9528-4