Abstract
Botryococcus braunii produces long-chain liquid hydrocarbon compounds resembling petroleum through photosynthesis. To achieve industrial use of B. braunii for petroleum displacement, the utilization of molecular biological means seems effective. However, the information on the genes of this organism is limited and majority of the nucleotide sequences available to date are those used for phylogenic analysis. Here we obtained global genetic information by EST analysis. Out of 144 strains of B. braunii, three domestic strains (BOT70, BOT22, and BOT88-2) were selected for the EST analysis because of their high growth rates and oil production. For BOT70, we constructed a full-length-enriched cDNA library by the oligo-capping method. The 5' ends of 11,904 randomly chosen clones were sequenced and, therefrom, 2,897 independent genes were retrieved. For BOT22 and BOT88-2, we randomly sequenced 209,429 and 185,936 fragmented cDNAs, respectively. By assembling the sequences, 15,517 and 15,145 indepndent genes were retrieved, respectively. Ongoing analysis is devoted to elucidating the hydrocarbon biosynthesis pathways in B. braunii.
