Transnational approaches to resolving biological bottlenecks in macroalgal biofuel production (SuBBSea)

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The green macroalgae, or seaweeds, are one of the most common sights on beaches and shorelines around the UK, providing food and shelter for many marine animals. The most familiar of these green seaweeds are the Ulva species; the 'sea lettuces'. These are particularly important because they act as a link between the land and the seas; increased nutrient run-off from agricultural fertilisers, or from urban sewage treatment plants, can lead to higher nutrient levels in the rivers and seas that border farmlands and cities. These enriched waters, which can also occur naturally through the spring upwelling of nutrient-rich deeper sea waters, can, in turn, see extraordinarily rapid growth of the seaweeds that live in them; the so-called 'green tides' that can choke coastal waters worldwide and which are responsible for threatening the Olympic sailing regatta at Qingdao in 2008, covering beaches along the south coast of the UK in 2010, and fouling the Breton coast annually.Our project aims to build on these astonishing growth rates by converting green seaweeds into fuel. We will start by using standard crop-breeding techniques (rather than genetic modification) to produce economically productive seaweed strains that can be grown safely and sustainably around the UK's coastline. Once they've been harvested, we will look at how to harness the natural processes by which seaweeds are broken down, extracting enzymes and microbes capable of converting seaweed biomass into the advanced biofuels that the UK economy will need in the years ahead.