Media Screening for Obtaining Haematococcus pluvialis Red Motile Macrozooids Rich in Astaxanthin and Fatty Acids
by
Thomas O. Butler 1,2,*, Gordon J. McDougall 3, Raymond Campbell 3, Michele S. Stanley 2 and John G. Day 2
Thomas O. Butler 1,2,*, Gordon J. McDougall 3, Raymond Campbell 3, Michele S. Stanley 2 and John G. Day 2
1
Department of Biological and Chemical Engineering, Sheffield University, Sheffield S1 3JD, UK
2
Scottish Association for Marine Science, Scottish Marine Institute, Oban PA37 1QA, UK
3
The James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee DD2 5DA, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biology 2018, 7(1), 2; https://doi.org/10.3390/biology7010002
Received: 28 November 2017 / Revised: 20 December 2017 / Accepted: 23 December 2017 / Published: 26 December 2017
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Microalgal Biotechnology)
Astaxanthin from Haematococcus pluvialis is commercially produced in a two-stage process, involving green vegetative (macrozooid) and red aplanospore stages. This approach has been scaled up to an industrial process but constraints limit its commercial success and profitability, including: contamination issues, high pigment extraction costs, requirements for high light levels and photo-bleaching in the red stage. However, in addition to the aplanospore stage, this alga can produce astaxanthin in vegetative palmelloid and motile macrozooid cells. In this study, a two-stage process utilising different media in the green stage, with subsequent re-suspension in medium without nitrate was employed to optimise the formation of red motile macrozooids. Optimal growth in the green phase was obtained on cultivation under mixotrophic conditions in EG:JM media followed by re-suspension in medium without nitrate resulting in red motile macrozooids with an astaxanthin content of 2.74% (78.4% of total carotenoids) and a lipid content of 35.3% (rich in unsaturated fatty acids. It is envisaged that the red motile macrozooids could be harvested and fed as a whole-cell product directly in the animal feed and aquaculture sectors, or used as a blend of carotenoids and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in nutraceutical products.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
algal biotechnology; astaxanthin; carotenoids; fatty acids; Haematococcus; red motile macrozooids
▼
Show Figures
Figure 1
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited
MDPI and ACS Style
Butler, T.O.; McDougall, G.J.; Campbell, R.; Stanley, M.S.; Day, J.G. Media Screening for Obtaining Haematococcus pluvialis Red Motile Macrozooids Rich in Astaxanthin and Fatty Acids. Biology 2018, 7, 2.
Show more citation formats
Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.
- Supplementary File 1:
Supplementary (PDF, 551 KB)
