Abstract
Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are essential for human function, however they have to be provided through the diet. As their production from fish oil is environmentally unsustainable, there is demand for new sources of PUFAs. The aim of the present work was to establish the microalgal platform to produce nutraceutical-value PUFAs from forest biomass. To this end, the growth of Phaeodactylum tricornutum on birch and spruce hydrolysates was compared to autotrophic cultivation and glucose synthetic media. Total lipid generated by P. tricornutum grown mixotrophically on glucose, birch, and spruce hydrolysates was 1.21, 1.26, and 1.29 g/L, respectively. The highest eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) production (256 mg/L) and productivity (19.69 mg/L/d) were observed on spruce hydrolysates. These values were considerably higher than those obtained from the cultivation without glucose (79.80 mg/L and 6.14 mg/L/d, respectively) and also from the photoautotrophic cultivation (26.86 mg/L and 2.44 mg/L/d, respectively). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report describing the use of forest biomass as raw material for EPA and docosapentaenoic acid (DHA) production.
Highlights
Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain consisting of an even number of carbon atoms ranging from 4 to 28
The most common source of omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) is represented by fish of the Salmonidae, Scombridae, and Clupeidae families which contain a high percentage of DHA and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) [3]
To compare the effect of photoautotrophic versus mixotrophic cultivation on biomass and lipid accumulation by P. tricornutum, different initial levels of glucose ranging from 0 g/L
Summary
Most naturally occurring fatty acids have an unbranched chain consisting of an even number of carbon atoms ranging from 4 to 28. Many fatty acids can be synthesized by humans, not some polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), such as omega-3. Omega-6 fatty acids, such as arachidonic acid (C20:4 n−6; AA), can be synthesized by humans from LA, whereas the essential omega-3 fatty acids, such as eicosapentaenoic acid (C20:5 n−3; EPA), docosapentaenoic acid (C22:5 n−3, DPA), and docosahexaenoic acid (C22:6 n−3, DHA), can be synthesized from ALA. The conversion rate of ALA to EPA, DPA, and DHA is very low [3]. Both omega-6 and omega-3 PUFAs have to be taken up through the diet, preferably at a ratio of 5:1 or less [4]. The most common source of omega-3 PUFAs is represented by fish of the Salmonidae, Scombridae, and Clupeidae families which contain a high percentage of DHA and EPA [3]
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