TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - BIOTECHNOLOGY - Preparation: No preparation method is given. Preferred Components: The nucleic acid molecule comprises any one of SEQ ID NOs: 6-9 or 30 (comprising fully defined 88-1212 base pairs, as given in the specification), or their functional fragments. The recombinant organism is a microorganism, which is an alga (including Chlamydomonas reinhardtii), a bacterium (including Escherichia coli), Saccharomyces cerevisiae, or Pichia sp.. Preferred Method: In the triterpenoid hydrocarbon production, when the hydrocarbon is: squalene or botryococcene (both preferred) and the conditions comprise supplementing the recombinant organism with NADPH or NADH; and dehydrosqualene or dehydrobotryococcene and the conditions comprise not supplementing the recombinant organism with, or minimizing the concentration of, NADPH or NADH. The triterpenoid hydrocarbon is produced from farnesyl pyrophosphate and/or presqualene pyrophosphate. EXAMPLE - Cells of Botryococcus braunii Ayame 1 strain were grown to stationary phase in CHU 13 medium (potassium nitrate (200 mg/l), magnesium sulfate heptahydrate (100 mg/l), dipotassium phosphate (39 mg/l), calcium chloride dehydrate (54 mg/l), ferric-sodium EDTA (15 mg/l,) boric acid (2.68 mg/l), manganese sulfate hydrate (1.54 mg/l), zinc sulfate heptahydrate (0.22 mg/l), copper sulfate pentahydrate (0.08 mg/l), sodium molybdate dehydrate (0.06 mg/l), cobalt sulfate heptahydrate (0.09 mg/l)), then subcultured into an equal volume of fresh CHU 13 medium, and grown further for 3 days. On the third day, at the same time of day as the inoculation occurred three days beforehand, 1-10 mg cells were harvested using a 0.45 m pore-size filter and scraping the cells from he filter using a scalpel blade. RNA was extracted from these cells. Extraction was begun by resuspending the cells in lysis buffer, and subjecting the suspension to at least 5 cycles of freeze-thaw using liquid nitrogen and 45 degrees C water bath, respectively. Subsequently, RNA was isolated.