The term algae covers many different organisms capable of producing oxygen through photosynthesis (The process of harvesting light energy from the sun to generate carbohydrates). Algae are a diverse group of aquatic organisms that have the ability to conduct photosynthesis. Certain algae are familiar to most people , e.g sea weeds, pond scum, algal blooms in the lake.
Scientists have devised a method that could lead to cheap, environmentally friendly ways of making products for use in the cosmetics, plastics and food industries.
Algae are highly prized for their ability to make useful products, but a lack of engineering tools has hindered basic research and growth of the industry for decades, researchers say.
Scientists at the University of Edinburgh sought to improve the efficiency of gene-editing to increase yields of products currently made using algae, including some food supplements. The advance could also enable algae to make new products, such as medicines.
The technique uses molecules that act like scissors to cut DNA – called CRISPR molecules – which allow researchers to add new genes or modify existing ones. Until now, scientists have struggled to develop a technique that works efficiently in algae.
To overcome this, the team added CRISPR molecular scissors and short pieces of DNA directly to algae cells to make precise modifications to the genetic code.
Their new method is more specific and increases efficiency 500-fold compared to previous techniques. The discovery could unleash the potential of the global algae industry, projected to be worth $1.1billion by 2024.
The team developed its technique to work in a widely used species of algae – called Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. The method could potentially also be used to engineer crops to increase yields, improve disease resistance or enable plants to thrive in harsh climates.
The study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, was funded by PHYCONET, a Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council Network in Industrial Biotechnology and Bioenergy, and Scottish Bioenergy.
scientists engineering Algae to fuel our cars!
Algae as fuel.
Advances in biotechnology, such as the ability to genetically engineer algae to produce more oils and convert solar energy more efficiently, have unleashed new possibilities not feasible during the ASP years.
Most of the activity in algae research and commercial production has been in the United States. With more than 100 start-ups and large corporations, along with the US Government, investing billions in this new industry, the US the leader in advancing algae-based fuels. However, now algae biofuels are also being researched around the world in both developed and developing nations in Europe, Asia, and elsewhere. For more details please read here.
Algae as food.
Money is being poured into algae from every country and dozens of companies are betting on it to deliver. Owned since the seventies by DIC, a Japanese company, Earthrise nutritionals recently announced plans to expand its central California plants in order to ramp up productions of linablue, a blue food-coloring extract derived from spirulina and the first of its kind to win FDA approval. (It’s what M&Ms is using.) Earthrise claims to have the largest outdoor algae farm in the world, but its giant 5,000-square-meter ponds are open to the air and thus upon weather to function. This is both good and bad: Algae need sun but they need to be protected in order for nutrients like carbon dioxide to remain high enough to promote maximum growth. They also need to be grown far from pollutants, which means far away from big cities. Continue reading here.
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