Use of phylogenetics for the purpose of quality control in the green algae genus Chlorella

Abstract

The push for an efficient biofuel is at an all time high all around the world. Lately, a consideration for an algal biofuel has made algae a prime candidate for research. However, the most efficient way to obtain a known culture is to receive it form a culture collection. Or is it? Our research has shown that the genus Chlorella has some issues according to the DNA of the organisms compared to the taxonomy of the culture collections. To show the differences of what the cultures are compared what they are said to be, the pure culture was isolated, its DNA was extracted, PCR amplified, and sent to sequencing. Using the MEGA 5 program in association with the (Internal Transcribed Spacer) ITS2 database, the sequence is annotated. Each element (18S, ITS1, 5.8S, and ITS2) at this point is individually aligned. The elements are then concatenated, and a maximum likelihood tree is run on the MEGA 5 program. This produces a tree that species in the Chlorella genus will group together in an obvious way with acceptable bootstrap values. With this tree, it will be obvious which strains belong to a given species, and which do not. The source of support for this project comes from NSF 25‐6230‐0130‐009