Biomass of green filamentous alga Cladophora (Chlorophyta) from a hypersaline lake in Crimea as a prospective source of lutein and other pigments

Abstract

The filamentous green alga Cladophora spp. is one of the most common plants to be found in various water bodies, from fresh to hypersaline ones. The goals of this work are to determine the pigment composition and content in the green filamentous alga Cladophora spp. occurring in the hypersaline Lake Khersonesskoye (the Crimean Peninsula) and to assess the potential use of Cladophora mats as a cheap raw material for the pharmaceutical and food industries. Cladophora mats were found to have vertical stratification with pronounced morphological and biochemical characters of the layers. In the vertical layered structure of the mat, the floating and bottom mats are clearly distinguishable. Using HPLC, MS/MS, MS and UV–Vis methods, the contents of all-trans lutein (0.55 ± 0.25 mg·g−1 dry weight, d.w.), lutein cis-isomers (0.17 ± 0.07 mg·g−1 d.w.), and siphonaxanthin (0.057 ± 0.026 mg·g−1 d.w.) were determined in the lower layer of the Cladophora floating mat. A comparative analysis of the literature data as regards the content of lutein and siphonaxanthin in various natural sources showed the promise of producing these carotenoids industrially from Cladophora spp., taking into account the large and renewable resources of these algae in Crimean lakes.