Method to increase algal biomass and enhance its quality for the production of fuel

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9315838-B2
Application number	US-201314073959-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 7, 2013
Priority date	Nov 7, 2012
Publication date	Apr 19, 2016
Grant date	Apr 19, 2016

Abstract

The invention provides a recombinant cell having a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide which is a lipase having at least 40% amino acid sequence identity to a polypeptide having SEQ ID NO:1, and methods of using the recombinant cell to produce triacylglycerols or to increase oil production by the cell.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A recombinant cell comprising a vector having a heterologous promoter operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide which is a galactoglycerolipid lipase having at least 95% amino acid sequence identity to a polypeptide having SEQ ID NO: 1.

2. The recombinant cell of claim 1 which is an algal cell, a bacterial cell or a plant cell.

3. The recombinant cell of claim 1 which is E. coli.

4. The recombinant cell of claim 1 which is a corn, cannola canola, palm, soybean, peanut, or walnut cell.

5. The recombinant cell of claim 1 which is a red, green or brown alga.

6. The recombinant cell of claim 1 which is a Chlamydomonas, Nannochloropsis , Phaeophyceae or Phytophthora infestans cell.

7. The recombinant cell of claim 2 which is an Archaeplastida, Rhizaria, Excavata, Chromista , or Alveolata cell.

8. The recombinant cell of claim 1 which is a green algae, Rhodophyta (red algae), Glaucophyta, Chlorarachniophytes, Euglenids, Bacillariophyceae (Diatoms), Axodine, Bolidomonas, Eustigmatophyceae, Phaeophyceae (brown algae), Chrysophyceae (golden algae), Raphidophyceae, Synurophyceae, Xanthophyceae (yellow-green algae), Cryptophyta, Dinoflagellates or Haptophyta cell.

9. A method to produce triacylglycerol (TAG) comprising:
providing the recombinant cell of claim 1 ; and
culturing the cell under conditions that produce oil having TAG.

10. The method of claim 9 further comprising isolating TAG.

11. The method of claim 9 wherein the cell is a plant cell in a plant.

12. The method of claim 9 wherein the plant is a corn, cannola, palm, soybean, peanut, or walnut plant.

13. The method of claim 9 wherein the cell is a brown, red or green algal cell.

14. A method to increase oil production, comprising:
providing the recombinant cell of claim 1 ; and
culturing the cell under conditions that produce oil in an amount that is increased relative to a corresponding non-recombinant cell.

15. The method of claim 14 further comprising isolating the oil.

16. The method of claim 14 wherein the cell is a plant cell in a plant.

17. The method of claim 16 wherein the plant is a corn, cannola, palm, soybean, peanut, or walnut plant.

18. The method of claim 14 wherein the cell is a brown, red or green algal cell.

19. The method of claim 14 wherein the amount of mono-unsaturated fatty acids in the oil is increased.

20. A recombinant DNA construct comprising a heterologous promoter operably linked to a nucleotide sequence encoding a polypeptide which is a galactoglycerolipid lipase having at least 95% amino acid sequence identity to a polypeptide having SEQ ID NO:1.

21. The recombinant cell of claim 1 wherein the nucleotide sequence is at least 95% identical to SEQ ID NO:2.

Assignees

• Univ Michigan State

Inventors

• Benning Christoph
• Li Xiaobo
• Liu Bensheng
• Kuo Min-Hao
• Sears Barbara

Classifications

• C12N15/8247

  involving modified lipid metabolism, e.g. seed oil composition · CPC title

• C12P7/6463 Primary

  obtained from glyceride producing microorganisms, e.g. single cell oil · CPC title

• Y02E50/13

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• Y02E50/10

  Biofuels, e.g. bio-diesel · CPC title