Abstract
Biofuels are a potentially viable and environmentally friendly alternative to fossil fuels because they produce significantly less greenhouse gas emissions than fossil fuels.1 Due to its high productivity of biomass that can be generated in a given area, algae has the potential to be significantly more productive than traditional bioenergy feedstocks.2 The green alga, Chlorella vulgaris, is an attractive algal feedstock species due to its ability to produce biofuels and its easy cultivation and fast growth.3 The working hypothesis behind this study was that by increasing glycerol availability as cell density was simultaneously increasing, lipid production within the cells would be maximized by upregulating the cell's membrane-bound glycerol transporters. Lipids (specifically, triacylglycerols or TAGS) can be used as an effective feedstock for biodiesel.4 C. vulgaris was inoculated and dosed with varying amounts of glycerol (which serves as the backbone of TAGs), gradually increasing the overall concentration throughout the period of growth by dosing every 24 h for the first 72 h of growth. Preliminary experiments were performed in which a 6.8% (w/v) glycerol dosed group, a 7.5% (w/v) glycerol dosed group, and a control group were assayed for turbidity (cell density), dry mass, chlorophyll a concentration, and overall percentage of lipid production. These preliminary data show that there was an overall decrease in cell density for the glycerol-dosed cultures in comparison to the control group, however the glycerol dosed cells do not appear to be severely inhibited. Additionally, a small increase in lipid production was observed during stationary phase. Further experimentation will be performed in order to determine if higher concentrations of glycerol result in an increase of TAG production. A procedure will also be performed in order to assay for glycerol transporter expression. Support or Funding Information This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. OIA-1458952. Glycerol Dosing Lipid Percentages Glycerol Dosing Cell Density This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.
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