“Bui

ldin

g B

ette

r Alg

ae”

Cra

ig M

arcu

s, P

h.D

.D

ept.

of E

nviro

nmen

tal &

Mol

ecul

ar T

oxic

olog

y

Dom

estic

atio

n”of

Alg

ae a

s a

New

Cro

pM

ust d

evel

op a

rapi

d pr

oces

s (c

orn

first

‘dom

estic

ated

’~40

00 B

.C.)

•R

equi

res

a la

rger

and

impr

oved

info

rmat

ics

alga

e da

taba

se•

Req

uire

s id

entif

icat

ion

and

char

acte

rizat

ion

of a

larg

e ar

ray

ofdi

vers

e al

gae

spec

ies

•R

equi

res

acqu

isiti

on o

f ext

ensi

ve n

ew d

ata:

–G

enom

ic–

Prot

eom

ic–

Lipi

dom

ic–

Met

abon

omic

•R

equi

res

deve

lopm

ent o

f new

mol

ecul

ar a

nd g

enet

ic to

ols

for:

•br

eedi

ng–

bioe

ngin

eerin

g–

agric

ultu

ral e

ngin

eerin

g an

d cr

oppi

ng s

trat

egie

s•

New

tech

nolo

gies

for:

–G

row

th–

Har

vest

ing

–Pr

oces

sing

and

pro

duct

ion

Use

ful A

lgae

Phe

noty

pes

•R

apid

Gro

wth

•O

ptim

ized

pho

tosy

nthe

sis

•O

ptim

al p

rodu

ctio

n of

lipi

ds, c

arbo

hydr

ates

, pro

tein

s,

etc.

(fo

od, f

uel,

fiber

, pha

rmac

eutic

als,

fert

ilize

r, or

gani

c ch

emic

al fe

edst

ocks

…..)

•O

ptim

ized

nut

rient

sou

rces

•O

ptim

ized

env

ironm

enta

l ada

ptat

ion

(tem

pera

ture

, lig

ht, n

utrie

nts,

sal

ine,

etc

.)•

Opt

imiz

ed h

arve

stin

g, c

ell l

ysis

, pro

duct

ext

ract

ion

•O

ptim

ized

CO

2fix

atio

n•

Opt

imiz

ed b

iore

med

iatio

n pa

thw

ays

•O

ptim

ized

for m

onoc

ultu

re, c

o-cu

lture

•O

ptim

ized

Env

ironm

enta

l Saf

ety,

Gen

etic

Con

tain

men

t

Alg

ae B

iodi

vers

ity•

Unl

ike

sing

le tr

aditi

onal

cro

p pl

ants

, Alg

ae a

re a

larg

e he

tero

gene

ous

grou

p of

org

anis

ms

–m

ostly

eu

kary

otic

•C

ell s

izes

from

1 –

100,

000 μM

•U

tiliz

e lig

ht to

fix

carb

on fr

om C

O2,

gene

rate

O2

•R

equi

re b

oth

spec

ializ

ed c

hem

ical

and

phy

sica

l en

viro

nmen

ts, a

s w

ell a

s of

ten

unkn

own

ecol

ogic

al

envi

ronm

ents

(axe

nic

cultu

res)

•D

oesn

’t co

mpe

te w

ith fo

od c

rops

for f

uel

•G

row

s ra

pidl

y pr

imar

y in

put i

s (fr

ee, c

arbo

n ne

utra

l) so

lar e

nerg

y•

Hig

h en

ergy

bal

ance

–in

crea

ses

over

all e

nerg

y pr

oduc

tion

(effi

cien

cy)

•G

oal o

f clo

se to

neu

tral

car

bon

foot

prin

t

Cha

lleng

es to

Dev

elop

ing

new

Alg

ae C

rops

•M

ust i

dent

ify a

lgae

str

ains

with

des

ired

trai

ts

•N

o on

e si

ngle

str

ain

unlik

ely

to b

e us

eful

for m

ultip

le

prod

ucts

in m

ultip

le e

nviro

nmen

ts

•M

ost d

esire

d tr

aits

are

like

ly n

ot n

atur

ally

occ

urrin

g ph

enot

ypes

:

•pro

duct

ion

of h

igh

leve

ls o

f des

ired

mol

ecul

es

•har

vest

effi

cien

cy a

nd p

rodu

ct re

cove

ry

•Th

us w

ill n

eed

to a

ccom

plis

h br

eedi

ng a

nd/o

r gen

etic

m

odifi

catio

n w

ith a

rapi

d (e

volu

tiona

ry) t

ime

fram

e

•Lo

ng R

ange

Syn

thet

ic B

iolo

gy A

ppro

ach

Nee

d N

ew M

olec

ular

Too

ls, T

echn

olog

ies

an

d R

eage

nts

to E

ngin

eer A

lgae

DN

A

Nuc

leus

Mito

chon

dria

Chl

orop

last

Alg

ae G

enom

es

•HT

Sequ

enci

ng•H

T Sc

reen

ing

•Dat

abas

es a

nd In

form

atic

s•R

epor

ter G

enes

•Mar

ker G

enes

•Sel

ectio

n Fa

ctor

s•P

rom

oter

s/R

epre

ssor

s•T

rans

form

atio

n St

rate

gies

•Exp

ress

ion

Vect

ors

•Clo

ning

vec

tors

•Ove

r exp

ress

ion,

sile

ncin

g of

en

doge

nous

gen

es•H

eter

olog

ous

expr

essi

on•H

omol

ogou

s pr

omot

ers

Cha

lleng

es in

A

lgae

Bio

tech

nolo

gy

Figu

re 1

. Evo

lutio

nary

rela

tions

hips

of r

epre

sent

ativ

e ph

otos

ynth

etic

eu

kary

otes

. Syn

echo

cyst

is s

p. R

epre

sent

s th

e pr

e-en

dosy

mbi

otic

anc

esto

r of

the

chlo

ropl

ast,

and

the

tree

show

s br

anch

es fr

om le

ft to

righ

t for

cya

nelle

co

ntai

ning

alg

ae (g

lauc

ocys

toph

ytes

), re

d al

gae

(rhod

ophy

tes)

, gre

en a

lgae

(c

hlor

ophy

tes)

, and

vas

cula

r pla

nts

(em

bryo

phyt

es).

The

plas

tid g

enom

es a

re

colo

r-co

ded

and

prop

ortio

nal t

o th

e si

zes

gene

rally

foun

d in

that

gro

up. T

he

maj

or o

rgan

ism

s de

rived

from

sec

onda

ry e

ndos

ymbi

osis

are

sho

wn

in b

oxes

. P

lant

Phy

siol

ogy,

Jul

y 20

02, V

ol. 1

29, p

p. 9

57–9

66

Fig.

1. A

sch

emat

ic o

f a C

hlam

ydom

onas

ce

ll (fr

om tr

ansm

issi

on e

lect

ron

mic

rogr

aphs

) sh

owin

g th

e an

terio

r fla

gella

root

ed in

bas

al

bodi

es, w

ith in

trafla

gella

r tra

nspo

rt (IF

T)

parti

cle

arra

ys b

etw

een

the

axon

eme

and

flage

llar m

embr

ane,

the

basa

l cup

-sha

ped

chlo

ropl

ast,

cent

ral n

ucle

us a

nd o

ther

or

gane

lles.

SC

IEN

CE

VOL

318

12

OC

TOB

ER

200

7

Chl

amyd

omon

asG

enom

e an

d M

etab

olom

eD

iver

se A

lgae

Gen

omes

and

Chl

orop

last

Gen

omes

(c

ircul

ar,a

vera

ge 1

40 k

b an

d 11

0 ge

nes)

TRE

ND

S in

Bio

tech

nolo

gy V

ol.2

2 N

o.1

Janu

ary

2004

Synt

hetic

Bio

logy

•Sy

nthe

tic B

iolo

gy e

ntai

ls th

e de

sign

and

con

stru

ctio

n de

nov

o of

func

tiona

l new

bio

logi

cal u

nits

and

sys

tem

s as

w

ell a

s th

e re

desi

gn fo

r im

prov

ed o

r mor

e us

eful

fu

nctio

ns o

f exi

stin

g na

tura

l bio

logi

cal o

rgan

ism

s.

•Th

e di

ffere

nce

betw

een

Synt

hetic

Bio

logy

and

Sys

tem

s B

iolo

gy is

that

sys

tem

s bi

olog

y m

erel

y st

udie

s th

e fu

nctio

n of

com

plex

bio

logi

cal o

rgan

ism

s w

hile

syn

thet

ic

biol

ogy

atte

mpt

s to

con

stru

ct o

r re-

engi

neer

ent

ire

orga

nism

s or

dev

elop

ent

irely

new

org

anis

ms

de n

ovo

and

from

sub

units

of e

xist

ing

orga

nism

s.

•Sy

nthe

tic B

iolo

gy, a

s w

ell a

s m

ore

trad

ition

al g

enet

ic

engi

neer

ing

thro

ugh

mol

ecul

ar b

iolo

gy o

f exi

stin

g or

gani

sms

mig

ht b

e ap

plie

d to

gen

erat

e us

eful

new

st

rain

s of

alg

ae a

nd o

ther

sin

gle

celle

d or

gani

sms

for

prod

uctio

n of

org

anic

che

mic

als

and

biof

uels

.

9/2000