Isolation and Identification of Oedogonium Species and Strains for Biomass Applications

Abstract

Freshwater macroalgae from the genus Oedogonium have recently been targeted for biomass applications; however, strains of Oedogonium for domestication have not yet been identified. Therefore, the objective of this study was to compare the performance of isolates of Oedogonium collected from multiple geographic locations under varying environmental conditions. We collected and identified wild-type isolates of Oedogonium from three geographic locations in Eastern Australia, then measured the growth of these isolates under a range of temperature treatments corresponding to ambient conditions in each geographic location. Our sampling identified 11 isolates of Oedogonium that could be successfully maintained under culture conditions. It was not possible to identify most isolates to species level using DNA barcoding techniques or taxonomic keys. However, there were considerable genetic and morphological differences between isolates, strongly supporting each being an identifiable species. Specific growth rates of species were high (>26% day−1) under 7 of the 9 temperature treatments (average tested temperature range: 20.9–27.7°C). However, the variable growth rates of species under lower temperature treatments demonstrated that some were better able to tolerate lower temperatures. There was evidence for local adaptation under lower temperature treatments (winter conditions), but not under higher temperature treatments (summer conditions). The high growth rates we recorded across multiple temperature treatments for the majority of species confirm the suitability of this diverse genus for biomass applications and the domestication of Oedogonium.

Biochemical evolution in response to intensive harvesting in algae: Evolution of quality and quantity

“…This experiment used three strains of Oedogonium —Tsv1, Tsv2 and Tsv11—that were originally isolated from samples collected from naturally occurring water bodies and wetland areas around Townsville, Queensland, Australia (Lawton, de Nys, Skinner, & Paul, 2014; Appendix S1). All three strains are genetically distinct from each other (Lawton et al., 2014).…”

“…All three strains are genetically distinct from each other (Lawton et al., 2014). Tsv2 was identified as O. intermedium using taxonomic keys (Entwisle, Skinner, Lewis, & Foard, 2007).…”

The industrial ecology of freshwater macroalgae for biomass applications

“…Cultivation conditions Temperature (°C) 5.8 32.1 [9,11,12,[14][15][16]42,57,58] Water flow rate (volumes day −1 ) 0 (batch culture) 5.0 [9,11,12,[14][15][16][17]35 [11,12,[39][40][41][42]48,58] respectively) with high energy potential (HHV of 33.7 and 33.5 MJ kg −1 respectively) when processed using hydrothermal liquefaction [13,39]. Furthermore, the quality of the biocrude can be improved through selective post-harvest processing to reduce the quantities of heteroatoms (N + S) [31].…”

Cultivation Strategy for Freshwater Macro- and Micro-Algae as Biomass Stock for Lipid Production

“…For example Oedogonium sp, a filamentous green freshwater macro-algae [9,10] shows rapid growth and high adaptability for growing in a limited nutrient aquatic environment. It has many potential biochemical compositions.…”

“…It has many potential biochemical compositions. It is also known as a mat forming algal species [9,10]; different from micro-algae, it forms bunches of visible floating biomass. These properties are factors that make harvesting the biomass easier, thus there are no additional costs for centrifugation or coagulation during biomass collection, which is one of the largest challenges in algae research and production today.…”