Abstract
The green-colonial algae Botryococcus braunii is known to produce large amounts of hydrocarbon. The accumulated hydrocarbon is classified into 3 races A, B, L by their chemical structure. The aim of this study is to characterize hydrocarbon biosynthesis in B.braunii BOT-70 for the establishment of the efficient hydrocarbon production.
We investigate the characteristics of hydrocarbon biosynthesis in BOT-70 by 14C-tracer experiments. [14C-methyl]methionine was specifically incorporated into hydrocarbon, differently from race A strain. The obtained results suggest that the accumulated major hydrocarbon is classified as race B that produces botryococcene containing some methyl groups. The hydrocarbon biosynthesis from [14C-methyl] methionine was highest at the beginning of the growth and then decreased drastically, on the other hand, the hydrocarbon biosynthesis from NaH14CO3 was highest at early log phase growth. Botryococcene is supposed to be converted from IPP. We examine whether the origin of IPP is MEV pathway or MEP pathway.
