New Approach for Putting Algae to Work on Energy Challenges

Summary

In the August issue of the journal Nature Methods, a team of DOE-funded researchers at the University of Virginia and Harvard Medical School publish findings on a new systems biology based method for simultaneous metabolic network modeling and verification of gene function.  Using the alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii as a model system, the researchers were able to produce a refined annotation of gene function and a significantly more robust and experimentally validated metabolic network reconstruction.  The results of this study provides new targets for metabolic engineering of biofuels production by C. reinhardtii and related algae as well as a powerful new tool for studying functional properties of biological systems.