Hydrocarbon composition of newly isolated strains of the green microalga Botryococcus braunii

Abstract

Four new strains of Botryococcus braunii were isolated from Japanese waters and cultured under defined conditions. Their hydrocarbon content and composition were analyzed and compared with those of the Darwin and Berkeley strains. The Yamanaka strain produced only alkadienes characteristic of the A race, whereas the others, the Yayoi, Kawaguchi-1 and -2 strains as well as the Darwin and Berkeley strains, produced botryococcenes peculiar to the B race. The hydrocarbon content of the Yamanaka strain was 16.1 % dry weight and that of the B race strains ranged from 9.7 to 37.9%. Botryococcene composition of the Japanese strains differed from each other as well as from the Darwin and Berkeley strains. More than 50% of the hydrocarbons in the Yayoi, Darwin, and Berkeley strains were composed of C34H58, but the main components were different from one another as isomers. The Kawaguchi-1 and -2 strains did not have a high level of C34 botryococcenes, C32 ones being the main components. In these strains significant amounts of squalene-related compounds were detected. © 1995 Kluwer Academic Publishers.