SusChEM:Characterization of oxidative stress response to improve microalgae-based biofuel production in wastewater

PI：Annaliese FranzProposal编号：1512250微藻是一种单细胞光合作用生物体，依靠大气中的二氧化碳、阳光和溶解的矿物质养分生长。在适当的条件下，微藻还会产生以脂肪形式储存的脂肪酸，这些脂肪酸可以很容易地转化为生物燃料，如生物柴油。为了降低藻类生物燃料生产过程的成本，同时提高水的可持续利用，藻类可以利用各种类型废水中溶解的矿物营养物质进行生长。然而，利用废水作为营养源可能会对生物体的生长和新陈代谢造成压力。该项目将利用分子生物学技术研究工业相关微藻菌株中氧化应激和脂肪产生之间的可能联系。这项研究的结果可能会提出将废水处理到最低限度的方法，使其更适合用于藻类生物燃料生产。该项目的教育方面侧重于指导中学女生使用为此目的开发的生物能源模块来激发她们对科学和工程的兴趣。本研究的总体目标是表征与工业相关的微藻菌株的氧化应激反应和基因表达的调节，以确定将生物燃料生产与废水修复相结合的改善条件。总体方法是将相关表型与微藻产脂菌株的代谢学和转录学研究相关联，以了解在促进氧化应激反应的条件下全球新陈代谢和脂质途径的变化，包括以废水中藻类培养为主要重点的处理后培养物的动力学和浓度效应。根据它们的工业和科学相关性以及基因组信息的可用性，将选择高脂生产菌株(三角梭菌、索洛基尼阿纳菌和盐酸菌)进行研究。该研究计划有三个目标。第一个目标是研究产脂微藻的氧化应激反应和基因表达调控，包括过氧化氢诱导的脂类积累和乳制品废水培养两种情况下的动力学和浓度效应。第二个目标是评估抗氧化剂在提高高产微藻氧化应激耐受性方面的应用。最后，第三个目标是评估过氧化氢和抗氧化剂处理作为变量的效果，以提高废水中培养的微藻的生物量和脂肪产量。该项目的教育和推广活动侧重于生物能源主题，旨在通过加州大学戴维斯分校的现有课程，扩大妇女和代表性不足的学生在STEM的参与，特别是针对中学女生。将开发一个侧重于可再生能源和环境可持续性的生物能源模块，以帮助提供这些教育和推广方案。

PI: Annaliese FranzProposal Number: 1512250Microalgae are single-celled photosynthetic organisms that grow on atmospheric carbon dioxide, sunlight, and dissolved mineral nutrients. Under the proper conditions, microalgae also produce fatty acids stored as lipids, which can be readily converted to biofuel such as biodiesel. To reduce the costs of algal biofuel production processes and at the same time improve sustainable reuse of water, algae can be grown on dissolved mineral nutrients in various types of waste water. However, the use of waste water as nutrient source may put stress on the growth and metabolism of the organism. This project will study the possible link between oxidative stress and lipid production in industrially-relevant strains of microalgae using techniques of molecular biology. The outcomes of the research may suggest ways to minimally treat waste water to make it more amenable for use in algal biofuel production. The educational aspects of this project focus on mentoring middle school girls to stimulate their interest in science and engineering using bioenergy modules developed for this purpose.The overall goal of this research is to characterize oxidative stress response and regulation of gene expression in industrially-relevant microalgae strains in order to identify improved conditions for coupling biofuel production with wastewater remediation. The overall approach is to correlate relevant phenotypes with metabolomic and transcriptomic studies for lipid producing strains of microalgae to understand global metabolism and lipid pathway changes under conditions that promote oxidative stress response, including kinetic and concentration effects of treated cultures with a primary focus on algae cultivation in wastewater. High lipid producing strains (P. tricornutum, C. sorokiniana and N. salina) will be selected for study based on their industrial and scientific relevance as well as availability of genomic information. The research plan has three objectives. The first objective is to characterize oxidative stress response and regulation of gene expression in lipid producing microalgae, including kinetic and concentration effects for two scenarios - peroxide-induced lipid accumulation and cultivation on dairy wastewater. The second objective is to evaluate application of antioxidants to improve oxidative stress tolerance in high-oil-producing microalgae. Finally, the third objective is to evaluate effect of peroxide- and antioxidant treatment as variables to improve biomass and lipid production of microalgae cultured in wastewater. The education and outreach activities of this project focus on bioenergy topics, and are designed to broaden participation of women and under-represented students in STEM through existing programs at the University of California at Davis, particularly for middle school girls. A bioenergy module focusing on renewable energy and environmental sustainability will be developed to help deliver these education and outreach programs.