Decoded algae could aid biofuel, climate work

Scientists in laboratories at Moss Landing and Walnut Creek have decoded the genes of two widely varied species of ocean-dwelling algae, finding promising evidence of their ability to resist global climate change and clues to new sources of biofuels for an energy-short world. The algae are called Micromonas, and they are among the vast and varied tribe of microscopic ocean plants whose evolutionary ancestors were among the very first organisms that populated the Earth, more than 3 billion years ago.

The California researchers and an international team of colleagues were led by Alexandra Z. Worden, a marine microbiologist and ecologist at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in Moss Landing, and Igor V. Grigoriev, a geneticist at the Department of Energy’s Joint Genome Institute in Walnut Creek. A report detailing their work and its significance is published in the journal Science.

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