Mar 2014 - Mar 2016

Isolate, cultivate, and characterize the pathogens of the green microalgae Haematococcus and Chlorella

AlgaeEcoID project aimed to isolate, cultivate, and characterize the pathogens of the green microalgae Haematococcus pluvialis and Chlorella vulgaris in the lab, in order to develop basic insight into their identity, life cycle, and biology. There will be a sensitive molecular detection technique for early identification of their presence. A4F will undertake to identify genotypes resistant to infection. These will not only be of immediate interest for industrial production, but also constitute an experimental basis to gain further insight into the processes underpinning algal disease resistance and the pathogen’s biology (e.g. metabolic requirements) using transcriptomics. The acquired knowledge on these pathogens will inform follow-up project(s) aimed at (i) developing know how to control the epidemic outbreaks and (ii) developing strategies to generate resistant strains to the pathogens.  

Microalgae species: Haematococcus pluvialis and Chlorella vulgaris

Program

GENOMIA FUND

Budget

Information Unavailable

Duration

24 months

Partners

SAMS (Coordinator)

A4F Role

A4F was a co-funding agent of the project and was involved in producing samples of microalgae and pathogens and to identify possible resistant genotypic variants. Those samples were then passed on to SAMS for further elucidation of the life cycle and metabolic and genetic reasons for the resistance.

Website

http://www.sams.ac.uk/claire-gachon/Genomia