Recently, photosynthetic microalgae have gained particular interest as a new source for industrially important biomolecules because they are able to convert carbon dioxide (CO 2) to various types of products such as carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins with minimal growth requirements [6, 29]. In particular, microalgae are now considered as one of the most attractive candidates for biofuel and polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) production due to their higher photosynthetic efficiency and oil yield compared to terrestrial crops [16, 20, 37]. In this study, a Korean indigenous microalga, Chlorella vulgaris KNUA027 was isolated and identified, and its potential as biofuel and PUFA feedstock was investigated. Algal samples growing around the root of Panax ginseng seedlings on Petri dish at Sangju Campus, Kyungpook National University (36 o 22'N, 128 o 08'E) were collected in February 2013. Samples were then inoculated into 100 ml BG-11 medium [30] (Table 1) with meropenem (Yuhan Pharmaceuticals, Korea) at a concentration of 100 µg/ml. The flasks were incubated at 25℃ with shaking at 160 rpm under cool fluorescent light (approximately 70 µmole m-2 s-1) until algal growth was apparent. Well-grown algal cultures (1.5 ml) were centrifuged at 3,000 × g for 15 min (Centrifuge 5424, Eppendorf, Germany) and resulting pellets were streaked onto BG-11 agar supplemented with meropenem (20 µg/ ml). Plates were then incubated in a light:dark cycle (16:8 h) at 25℃ and a single colony was aseptically A unicellular green alga, Chlorella vulgaris KNUA027, was isolated from the roots of Panax ginseng seedlings and its biotechnological potential was investigated. The results of GC/MS analysis showed that C. vulgaris KNUA027 was rich in nutritionally important polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as alphalinolenic acid (C 18:3 ω3, 45.8%, 50.8 mg/g) and hexadecatrienoic acid (C 16:3 ω3, 11.8%, 13.1 mg/g). Therefore, this Korean indigenous microalga may have potential as a source of omega-3 PUFAs. It was also found that the saturated palmitic acid (C 16:0 , 37.1%, 41.2 mg/g), which is suitable for biodiesel production, was one of the major fatty acids produced by strain KNUA027. The proximate analysis showed that the volatile matter content was 88.5%, and the ultimate analysis indicated that the higher heating value was 19.8 MJ/kg. Therefore, the results from this research with C. vulgaris KNUA027 may provide the basis for the production of microalgae-based biofuels and biomass feedstock.