ST2-03: Strain development of non-model photosynthetic microbes for biofuel production

Aurora Biofuels has been successful in isolating photosynthetic micro-organisms which meet certain criteria important for the feedstock production process we are designing.  These organisms must produce the right amount and types of oil; they must be harvestable; they must be amenable to our specialized pond mixing and oil extraction technologies; and they must grow outdoors stably.  However, we have been unbiased in regards to the availability of molecular genetic tools for the organisms that we isolate; and as a result, we are working mostly with non-model organisms.  As strain improvement via molecular genetics is essential to our business model, we have had to establish the requisite tools such as transformation technology and whole-genome sequences.  We have also stumbled upon some interesting (and very useful) surprises.