Green algae are important contributors to global carbon cycling and hold great promise as feedstocks for biomass and biotechnology applications. To date, breeding and natural variation of green algae have not been exploited for strain improvement due to lack of foundational knowledge about strain diversity and sexual cycles. This project will investigate natural strain diversity, sexual life cycles and hybridization in a biotechnologically relevant and promising group of green algae in the genus Scenedesmus and provide foundational knowledge that can be used for strain improvement.
Proposer: James Umen, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center
Proposal: Comparative genomics and germ plasm diversity in Acutodesmus, a green microalgal bioenergy feedstock candidate with potential for breeding and hybridization