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SUMMARY:Microbial consortia - a way forward for the commercialisation of m
 icroalgae for industrial biotechnology? - Chris Ridley
DTSTART:20130426T110000Z
DTEND:20130426T113000Z
UID:TALK44276@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Megan Cooper
DESCRIPTION:Contamination of algal cultures by adventitious bacteria is a 
 major roadblock to the development of algal biotechnology for high volume-
 low value products such as biofuels. Microbial consortia present a novel s
 olution to this problem. In my talk I will introduce the concepts of niche
  partitioning\, probiosis and the portfolio effect as processes by which w
 e may not only prevent the contamination of algal cultures by adventitious
  bacteria\, but potentially also produce greater biomass via overyielding.
  To investigate this I am using novel algal-bacterial consortia\, focusing
  initially on a defined interaction between the green alga Lobomonas rostr
 ata and the alpha-proteobacterium Mesorhizobium loti\, in which photosynth
 ate is exchanged in return for vitamin B12 (cobalamin). Subsequently I am 
 attempting to identify larger microbial consortia\, by reconstituting bact
 erial isolates with algae\, and investigating their stability and biomass 
 productivity. Utilising a transcriptomics and metabolomics approach\, I wi
 ll begin to unravel the molecular mechanisms responsible for such interact
 ions.
LOCATION:Biffen Lecture Theater\, Department of Genetics
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