Abstract
The commercial cultivation of microalgae began in the 1960s and Chlorella was one of the first target organisms. The species has long been considered a potential source of renewable energy, an alternative for phytoremediation, and more recently, as a growth and immune stimulant. However, Chlorella vulgaris, which is one of the most studied microalga, has never been comprehensively profiled chemically. In the present study, comprehensive profiling of the Chlorella vulgaris metabolome grown under normal culture conditions was carried out, employing tandem LC-MS/MS to profile the ethanolic extract and GC-MS for fatty acid analysis. The fatty acid profile of C. vulgaris was shown to be rich in omega-6, -7, -9, and -13 fatty acids, with omega-6 being the highest, representing more than sixty percent (>60%) of the total fatty acids. This is a clear indication that this species of Chlorella could serve as a good source of nutrition when incorporated in diets. The profile also showed that the main fatty acid composition was that of C16-C18 (>92%), suggesting that it might be a potential candidate for biodiesel production. LC-MS/MS analysis revealed carotenoid constituents comprising violaxanthin, neoxanthin, lutein, β-carotene, vulgaxanthin I, astaxanthin, and antheraxanthin, along with other pigments such as the chlorophylls. In addition to these, amino acids, vitamins, and simple sugars were also profiled, and through mass spectrometry-based molecular networking, 48 phospholipids were putatively identified.
Highlights
The profile showed that the fatty acid composition is mostly made up of C16 -C18 (>92%) fatty acid (Figure 1C,D) which further supports C. vulgaris as a potential candidate for biodiesel production
Chlorella vulgaris was obtained from the Aquatic Laboratory Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Universiti Putra Malaysia and prepared by raising 200 L of cultured media from 40 milliliters of starter-culture using Bold Basal’s media (BBM)
MS-based metabolite profiling of crude sample of C. vulgaris microalgae grown in normal conditions, proved to be efficient in the determination of certain metabolites including carotenoids, amino acids, vitamins and other pigments such as the chlorophylls
Summary
They use light energy and carbon dioxide for the photosynthetic biomass production with higher efficiency compared to plants. 300,000 species of microalgae, of which only around 30,000 (10%) of them have been documented [1] They live in complex natural habitats, making them able to adapt rapidly in different extreme conditions such as variable salinity, temperature, nutrients and UV–irradiation. They can produce a great variety of fascinating metabolites, with novel structures that possess biological activities which are not found in other organisms [2]. Algal research started in the 1950s, starting with studies on Chlorella and Spirulina species
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