Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Towards the commercialization of Botryococcus braunii for triterpenoid production

  • Short Communication
  • Published:
Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

Botryococcus braunii can accumulate unusually high levels of triterpenoid hydrocarbons making it a potential source of high value chemicals. However, its commercial application is hampered by its slow growth and lack of large-scale studies of triterpenoid hydrocarbon production. This study investigated hydrocarbon production in two race B of B. braunii strains, Overjuyo-3 and Kossou-4, at 25 °C in 500 L open tanks under artificial lighting in modified BG11 medium over 60 days. Maximum growth was reached by 40 days with Overjuyo-3 producing more biomass (3.05 g L−1) than Kossou-4 (2.55 g L−1). However, Kossou-4 produced more oil (0.75 g L−1) and triterpenoid hydrocarbons (C30–C34; 50 % of oil weight) compared to 0.63 g L−1 of oil in Overjuyo-3 with triterpenoid hydrocarbons making up 29 % of oil weight. This research demonstrates for the first time that large-scale production of high value triterpenoid hydrocarbon for commercial application is feasible with Kossou-4 strain.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

References

  1. Li Y, Moore R, Qin J, Scott A, Ball A (2013) Extractable liquid, its energy and hydrocarbon content in the green alga Botryococcus braunii. Biomass Bioenergy 52:103–112

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Metzger P, Allard B, Casadevall E, Berkaloff C, Couté A (1990) Structure and chemistry of a new chemical race of Botryococcus braunii (chlorophyceae) that produces lycopasiene, a tetraterpenoid hydrocarbon. J Phycol 26:258–266

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Niehaus TD, Okada S, Devarenne TP, Watt DS, Sviripa V, Chappell J (2011) Identification of unique mechanisms for triterpene biosynthesis in Botryococcus braunii. Proc Natl Acad Sci 108:12260–12265

    Article  PubMed Central  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  4. Eroglu E, Melis A (2010) Extracellular terpenoid hydrocarbon extraction and quantitation from the green microalgae Botryococcus braunii var Showa. Bioresour Technol 101:2359–2366

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Reddy LH, Couvreur P (2009) Squalene: A natural triterpene for use in disease management and therapy. Adv Drug Deliv Rev 61:1412–1426

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. He H-P, Cai Y, Sun M, Corke H (2002) Extraction and purification of squalene from Amaranthus grain. J Agric Food Chem 50:368–372

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Chisti Y (2007) Biodiesel from microalgae. Biotechnol Adv 25:294–306

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Qin JG (2010) Hydrocarbons from algae. In: Timmis KN (ed) Handbook of hydrocarbon and lipid microbiology. Springer, Berlin Heidelberg, pp 2817–2826

  9. Ashokkumar V, Rengasamy R (2012) Mass culture of Botryococcus braunii Kutz. under open raceway pond for biofuel production. Bioresour Technol 104:394–399

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Dayananda C, Kumudha A, Sarada R, Ravishankar G (2010) Isolation, characterization and outdoor cultivation of green microalgae Botryococcus sp. Sci Res Essays 5:2497–2505

    Google Scholar 

  11. Ranga Rao A, Ravishankar G, Sarada R (2012) Cultivation of green alga Botryococcus braunii in raceway, circular ponds under outdoor conditions and its growth, hydrocarbon production. Bioresour Technol 123:528–533

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Ge Y, Liu J, Tian G (2011) Growth characteristics of Botryococcus braunii 765 under high CO2 concentration in photobioreactor. Bioresour Technol 102:130–134

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Zhu C, Lee Y (1997) Determination of biomass dry weight of marine microalgae. J Appl Phycol 9:189–194

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Brennan L, Owende P (2010) Biofuels from microalgae—a review of technologies for production, processing, and extractions of biofuels and co-products. Renew Sustain Energy Rev 14:557–577

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Sawayama S, Minowa T, Dote Y, Yokoyama S (1992) Growth of the hydrocarbon-rich microalga Botryococcus braunii in secondarily treated sewage. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 38:135–138

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Cheng P, Ji B, Gao L, Zhang W, Wang J, Liu T (2013) The growth, lipid and hydrocarbon production of Botryococcus braunii with attached cultivation. Bioresour Technol 138:95–100

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author is grateful to the University of Taif and the Government of Saudi Arabia for the provision of a PhD scholarship.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Applied Science, Centre for Environmental Sustainability and Remediation, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, 3083, Australia

    Khalid A. Al-Hothaly, Eric M. Adetutu, Mohamed Taha & Andrew S. Ball

  2. Department of Biotechnology, Faculty of Science, Taif University, Taif, 21974, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

    Khalid A. Al-Hothaly

  3. School of Health Sciences, RMIT University, Bundoora, VIC, Australia

    Brian H. May

  4. Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Benha University, Moshtohor, Toukh, 13736, Egypt

    Mohamed Taha

Authors
  1. Khalid A. Al-Hothaly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Eric M. Adetutu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Brian H. May
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Mohamed Taha
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Andrew S. Ball
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew S. Ball.

Ethics declarations

Compliance with ethical standards

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no competing interests exist.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary material 1 (DOCX 1411 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Al-Hothaly, K.A., Adetutu, E.M., May, B.H. et al. Towards the commercialization of Botryococcus braunii for triterpenoid production. J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 42, 1415–1418 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-015-1658-x

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-015-1658-x

Keywords

Search

Navigation