First Name:
Thalia
Last Name:
Boozell
Major Department:
Biology
Thesis Director:
Mark Venable
Date of Thesis:
May 2012
Confronted with a growing energy crisis, as fossil fuel resources become increasingly scarce, the need for an alternative renewable energy source is becoming critical. Microalgae offer a unique solution to this crisis, as it has an unhindered potential to serve as a source of lipids for biodiesel production. In this study, we compare the effects two different stress conditions have on lipid biosynthesis inChlorella vulgaris.microalgae. We analyzed the effects of H2O2 stress on triacylglycerol (TAG) biosynthesis, as well as polar membrane lipids, including monogalactosyldiacylglycerol (MGDG), phosphatidylglycerol (PG), and phosphatidylcholine (PC), over a period of 72 hours. Desiccation stress was also tested for its effects on the biosynthesis of TAG, MGDG, PG, and PC over a period of 5 days. Following lipid analysis of both stress treatments using TLC plates, it was concluded that the 0.1 mM and 1.0 mM H2O2 treatments induced TAG, MGDG, and PG lipid production the best as compared to the desiccation treatment, which induced little to no lipid production. In conducting this projecthave expanded our understanding of algal metabolic mechanisms, increasing our understanding of the TAG biosynthesis pathway for biodiesel production.