Mutagenesis of the oil-producing algae by heavy ion Irradiation

Biofuel production by microalgae, is attracting attention as a candidate for next-generation energy, because it does not compete with food production. We have been trying heavy ion beam irradiation to create useful mutant strains that are more suitable for oil production. Here, we focused on cerulenin, which is known as inhibitor of fatty acid synthesis, to get fatty acid and alkenone synthesis enhanced mutants. We picked up mutants as following 3 groups, 1) top 10% mutants with high lipid fluorescence intensity after 4-week cultivation, 2) top 10% mutants with large increase in lipid fluorescence intensity between culture after 1 week and 4 weeks, 3) top 10% mutants with high chlorophyll fluorescence intensity and high optical density after 3-week cultivation.