Abstract
Microalgae have been considered as a source of high-lipid material for the production of biofuels. Our research group has launched the selection of marine microalgae with high neutral lipid content from microalgae culture collection. Among of them, a marine pennate diatom, Fistulifera sp. strain JPCC DA0580, was selected as the highest triglyceride producer (The lipid content: 60 wt%). Here, I describe whole genome analysis to clarify the mechanism for high triglyceride productivity in strain JPCC DA0580. The genome size of strain JPCC DA0580 was approximately 50 Mbp, which was much larger than other diatoms sequenced i.e. marine centric diatom, Thalassiosira pseudonana (32.4 Mbp) and marine pennate diatom, Phaeodactylum tricornutum (27.4 Mbp). Comparative genome analysis of three species (JPCC DA 0580, T. pseudonana and P. tricornutum) was performed. Furthermore, analysis of mRNA expression under different culture conditions was performed to identify the functional genes on genomic DNA.
