Biofuel production from macroalgae toward bio-based economy

School of Interdisciplinary Bioscience and Bioengineering, POSTECH, Pohang 790-784, Republic Korea(2014년 7월 2일 접수, 2014년 7월 8일 채택)AbstractMacroalgae has been strongly touted as an alternative biomass for biofuel production due to its higher photosynthetic efficiency, carbon fixation rate, and growth rate compared to conventional cellulosic plants. However, its unique carbohydrate composition and structure limits the utilization efficiency by conventional microorganisms, resulting in reduced growth rates and lower productivity. Nevertheless, recent studies have shown that it is possible to enable micro-organisms to utilize various sugars from seaweeds and to produce some energy chemicals such as methane, ethanol, etc. This paper introduces the basic information on macroalgae and the overall conversion process from harvest to production of biofuels. Especially, we will review the successful efforts on microbial engineering through metabolic engineering and synthetic biology to utilize carbon sources from red and brown seaweed.