About the Authors

Kenichi Furuhashi

Affiliation Laboratory of Biological and Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Japan

Kiyotaka Saga

Affiliation Laboratory of Biological and Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Japan

Shigeru Okada

Affiliation Laboratory of Aquatic and Natural Products Chemistry, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Japan

Kenji Imou

aimou@mail.ecc.u-tokyo.ac.jp

Affiliation Laboratory of Biological and Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences, the University of Tokyo, Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Japan

Competing Interests

The authors have the following interests: The following patent has been applied, (Algae with characteristic of high hydrocarbon recovery rate and its production method) Japanese patent application No. 2012-107054, filed on May 8, 2012. This study was funded by Tokyo Gas Co. Ltd. There are no further patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: KF KS SO KI. Performed the experiments: KF. Analyzed the data: KF. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: SO. Wrote the paper: KF.