Method for increasing biomass of Photosynthetic organism by extending its life in Culture. Application No: 201941042492

Title

Boosting biomass by extending life in culture.

Background of the invention

The work was designed to address the problem of fuel shortage that we may face in the future. It is known that microalgae are a good source of feedstock for the biofuel industry. But there is a need for strain improvement to cut production costs which was explored in this work.

Technology

The idea was to create an algal strain by overexpressing a native phyto-hormone biosynthesis gene of a unicellular alga and check whether as a result the biomass could be increased? Increase in biomass will lead to a better performing strain in comparison to the wild type as this may lead to a simultaneous increase in total carbohydrates and lipids which are important for the biofuel industry. This seems to be a very good way to increase biomass without much effort just by elongating the life of the algae.

Commercialization Aspects

This method can be utilized to increase biomass of oleaginous algae to increase lipid content and for other algae to increase carbohydrates. This has application in the biofuel industry. This method should be tested in other algal systems.