Berkeley researchers optimize balance of light absorption and biomass production in microalgae

In California, researchers the the University of California, Berkeley have indentified the genetic instructions for more than 600 chlorophyll molecules in microalgae, with a goal of optimizing the balance between light-gathering and production of oils and hydrocarbon biomass. The researchers, publishing in Optics Express, have termed their field “cellular optics” to describe the process of improving photosynthesis, explaining that micro-algae has more than four times the chlorophyll molecules needed to generate sufficient photosynthesis in a bioreactor, a result of a survival strategy for growing in the wild where there is competition for sunlight.

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