Phytoplankton Dicrateria rotunda synthesizes hydrocarbons equivalent to petroleum

Press Releases | July 29, 2021

Key points

We discovered that Dicrateria rotunda (D. rotunda), a species of Haptophyte, can synthesize hydrocarbons equivalent to petroleum (saturated hydrocarbons with a carbon number ranging from 10 to 38). No organism capable of petroleum production has been previously reported.
All of the eleven Dicrateria strains examined in this study, including ARC1 obtained during a science cruise in the Arctic Ocean, were found to be capable of synthesizing a series of saturated hydrocarbons. This has indicated that this capability of synthesis is common to the entire Dicrateria genus.
The saturated hydrocarbon content of the D. rotunda ARC1 increased under dark and nitrogen-deficient conditions. Understanding the physiological function and synthesis pathways of these saturated hydrocarbons may contribute to the development of biofuels in the future.

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