Pilot cultivation of the green alga Monoraphidium sp producing a high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in a low-temperature environment
Abstract
A cold-adapted strain of Monoraphidium (Selenastraceae, Chlorophyta) isolated from an Antarctic ice-covered lake was tested for polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) production. The strain was successfully cultivated in an outdoor 150 L thin-layer photobioreactor under early winter conditions of Central Europe, where the average temperaturewas 10.0 degrees C and the average intensity of PAR 32 mu molm(-2) s(-1).
The growth rate over the 22 days of the pilot cultivation reached a value of 0.341 day(-1) and lipid productivitywas 162 mgL(-1) day(-1). Theproportion of the 16: 4 and 18: 4 acidswas up to 19.1% and/or 34.7% of total fatty acids that resulted in a productivity of these acids of 27.5 and 43.7 mg L-1 day(-1), respectively, which is one order of magnitude higher than previously reported values.
These characteristicsmake this strain a prospective candidate for low-temperature biotechnology.