Reviewer Comments - EERE

2011 Algae Platform Review – Reviewer Comments
Reviewer Comments are direct transcripts of commentary and material provided by the Platform’s
Review Panel. They have not been edited or altered by the Biomass Program.
whether relevant or not. How this work can then be tied to full scale production has not been developed in
the plans.
Reviewer: 2
The project is at an early stage.
Reviewer: 3
Overall, this is a worthwhile project that should be pursued. Quantitative analysis needs to include
measurement of the oil content on a per cell or dry biomass basis. Also, information is needed on how
much oil accumulates in relation to other cellular parameters? Specifically starch and chlorophyll. Slide
13: TAG/lipid content? How is lipid defined in the context of this work?
Reviewer: 4
Overall Impression: 5
While the technical approach seems reasonable, the use of Chlamydomonas was not defended well. Other
algae more likely to be suitable for biofuel production have also been sequenced. Why could the studies
not be done on them? Similarly, the use of acetate and the plan to modify Chlamy to use glucose may
have scientific value, but the case for eventual value to autotrophic cultivation was not made.
Reviewer: 5
Although improved basic knowledge of lipid metabolism in algal strains is important, the impact of this
particular project is unnecessarily limited by the focus on Chlamydomonas.
Reviewer: 6
The PI has a skill in MFA and an affinity for a given microalgal strain. Thereafter the PI has cranked out
a classic MFA analysis that does not really relate to the conditions of apparrent absence of what will
dominate commercial production.
Reviewer: 7
A clear path from fundemental resutls in a model organism to relevant commercial technology needs to
be defined.
Presenter Response
Overall: Hard to explain is that none of the reviewer really assessed or criticized the control analysis
approach (Metabolic Control Analysis, MCA). Yet this was shown in the presentation as a large part of
the proposal. This effort is complementary to MFA.
Reviewer 1: “Not relevant for full scale production”: The Algal biofuels roadmap has a wide spectrum of
barriers and goals defined (p.6). Our project fits “Investigate genetics and biochemical pathways for
production of fuel precursors”. We see the potential of transformational discoveries that allows to
overcome the long known principle limitation, that algae typically produce high amounts of lipid
exclusively under nutrient stress. We have a good chance to address a major problem that already has
been identified in the Aquatic Species Program. R2: see comments above. R3: In our experiments we
generally analyze algal cell material by determining major biomass compounds (protein, lipid, starch, cell
wall material, free metabolites) on a dry weight bases. This may not have been explicit in the
presentation, but is a basic part of MFA.
R4: see remarks under “1 Appraoch”. R5: The idea is to gain insights about the role of central metabolism
in carbon partitioning with the model organism Chlamydomonas, which allows to transfer the resulting
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