Green Algae

Abstract

Green algae have been treated for a long time as "free living choroplasts" and therefore used as model organisms in photosynthesis research. However, recent progress has provided evidence that they have a paraphyletic origin, resulting in a wide array of different evolutionary lineages. This diversity opens the opportunity to utilise green algae not only for the production of bulk biomass, but also for the extraction of specific biotechnological compounds. This chapter gives an overview of the taxonomic, structural, biochemical, molecular and physiological features of those species which are the most widely used in algal biomass technologies. Based on this description, we suggest how green algal biodiversity and metabolic pathways can be exploited in the future for biological energy generation.