Are Genetically Modified Algae a Threat?

Algae are everywhere. There are an estimated 50,000 species that produce around half of the earth's oxygen and provide valuable services to the food chain, soil chemistry and water ecosystems. They can also be a nuisance invasive species; given the right conditions, algal blooms foul waterways, choke wildlife and make humans sick.

The role of algae – both good and bad – in ecosystem health is still not fully known by scientists, says bioenergy expert and consultant David Haberman. So creating genetically modified algae – which are almost guaranteed to get out of the lab and into the natural environment – without much insight into the consequences is a scary idea, he says.

“The reality is that no one has a clear understanding of those interactions,” Haberman says. “The lack of study of the potential hazards is of great concern.”

Haberman calls algae the “hydrogen of the plant world.” The entire organism can be easily aerosolized and get on clothes, in hair, in the lungs and can thus escape from a controlled environment. If that happens with the right strain, he fears it could compete with natural strains and cause uncontrolled growth.

Tom Allnut, the senior vice president of R&D at the algae start-up Phycal, believes some of the concerns about engineered algae are valid. Given that algae are “cosmopolitan” organisms, he worries about horizontal gene transfer creating antibiotic resistance in wild algal strains and boosting growth rates throughout the world.

But with the right protections in place, he doesn't see it as the threat some make it out to be.

“I think as responsible citizens we should have a system of bio-containment,” says Allnut. “And we've already done that in molecular biology.”

He points to early research on e.coli, which were designed to require a particular amino acid to survive outside the lab. Without it, the bacteria died. Allnut believes the same can be done for algae. Indeed, the research is already underway; Phycal was awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation to develop a bio-security system in algae.

“I'm all for genetically modified organisms, but I'm all for safety,” says Allnut.

Other companies are experimenting with such traits as well.

Sapphire Energy, which signed a multi-year research agreement with the GM-giant Monsanto earlier this month, says its algae – of which it has created thousands of new strains – are designed to be uncompetitive with wild strains. Like a domesticated animal released into the wild, Sapphire says its algae will be unequipped to live outside a controlled environment.

Reasearchers at Synthetic Genomics, led by the famous biologist Craig Venter and funded heavily by Exxon, have alluded to the creation of a “suicide” gene that will kill an alga if it escapes to the lab. However, the company says it is not currently developing the trait.

And the Israeli company TransAlgae is creating algae with traits that paralyze them in the wild – like taking away their ability to swim or absorb CO2 in certain environments. The company also says it's developing a self-destructing gene.

All these efforts are important, says David Haberman, but they don't yet prove that environmental problems can be avoided.

The U.S. Department of Energy and Department of Agriculture have invested tens of millions of dollars in various algae projects; however, Haberman says those agencies have explicitly set aside necessary federal environmental reviews in order to accelerate research and prove the technologies. He believes that the avoidance of comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessments is irresponsible.

“I hold the government accountable for this,” says Haberman. “There's little oversight, no regulatory regime and companies are not held accountable. The reality is we're just in a game of trust.”

These are still early days for engineering algae; most companies are working on the lab or pilot scale. So far, there have been no environmental or health problems associated with genetically modified algae. But with greater build-out of production facilities and use of more genetically modified strains of algae, the chances of a problem also increase.

With no comprehensive effort to study the impact, no one really knows what how big the problem could be – or even if it's a serious problem at all.

For more on this issue and on the economics of algae-based fuel production, take a listen to this week's Inside Renewable Energy podcast, linked above.