Abstract
Eutrophication is a leading problem in water bodies all around the world in which nitrate is one of the major contributors. The present study was conducted to study the effects of various concentrations of nitrate on two eukaryotic green microalgae, Chlamydomonas sp. MACC-216 and Chlorella sp. MACC-360. For this purpose, both microalgae were grown in a modified tris-acetate-phosphate medium (TAP-M) with three different concentrations of sodium nitrate, i.e., 5 mM (TAP-M5), 10 mM (TAP-M10) and 15 mM (TAP-M15), for 6 days and it was observed that both microalgae were able to remove nitrate completely from the TAP-M5 medium. Total amount of pigments decreased with the increasing concentration of nitrate, whereas protein and carbohydrate contents remained unaffected. High nitrate concentration (15 mM) led to an increase in lipids in Chlamydomonas sp. MACC-216, but not in Chlorella sp. MACC-360. Furthermore, Chlamydomonas sp. MACC-216 and Chlorella sp. MACC-360 were cultivated for 6 days in synthetic wastewater (SWW) with varying concentrations of nitrate where both microalgae grew well and showed an adequate nitrate removal capacity.
Highlights
Mosonmagyaróvár Algae Culture Collection (MACC)-360 grown in TAP-M15 media showed the highest Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) production between studied microalgae, which points toward the significant stress caused to Chlorella sp
We sought out to determine the effects of varying concentrations of nitrate on two freshwater microalgae, Chlamydomonas sp
High nitrate concentrations led to lipid accumulation in Chlamydomonas sp
Summary
Domestic and industrial sewage contain high concentrations of nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter in both soluble and particulate form Due to their ability to utilize nitrogen and phosphorus, microalgae are gaining attention for the treatment of wastewater. Nitrogen is one of the key nutrients to the algae and a change in its level can affect the growth rate, lipid content, carbohydrate content and protein content of the microalgae. Several studies have shown that nitrogen limitation enhances the production of lipids and carbohydrates in microalgae at the cost of low biomass productivity and lowered growth rate [18,19,20]. Other studies have shown an increase in the amount of lipids by increasing nitrate concentrations to a certain limit in microalgae Chlorella sp. The effects of different nitrate concentrations on the accumulation of proteins, carbohydrates and lipids were investigated in the microalgae
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