Abstract
Photoautotrophic microalgae based biorefinery concepts are currently not competitive compared to other established production systems. Therefore, innovative upstream processes need to be developed to increase the competitiveness of photoautotrophic microalgae biorefinery concepts. Abiotic sub-lethal stress induction via nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) treatment might be a viable process to increase the efficiency of photoautotrophic microalgae cultivation. In this work, an increased cell growth after nsPEF treatment was observable. Application of nsPEF to highly proliferating cells in a repetitive process resulted in a statistical significant increase in cell growth (p = 0.009). The effect was most pronounced after five days wherefore cellular structures and processes were analyzed to reveal a possible mechanism. Within this work, a protocol for increased cell proliferation with a possible mechanism was derived, which improves competitiveness of photoautotrophic microalgae biorefineries in the future. However, based on the derived mechanism, the results are also relevant for other microorganisms.
Highlights
The constant growth of human population causes new challenges regarding energy supply, food security, human health and biodiversity
Experiments were conducted within the exponential phase using a time interval of 36 h between inoculation and nanosecond pulsed electric field (nsPEF) treatment
A single treatment did not result in a statistical significant effect and neither did a single repetition of the treatment
Summary
The constant growth of human population causes new challenges regarding energy supply, food security, human health and biodiversity. Implementation of innovative technologies as well as a shift from animal toward more plant-based foods are possible solutions to tackle those challenges (Chaudhary et al, 2018) In this context, the exploitation of microalgae have become a field of great interest (Golberg et al, 2016; Rocha et al, 2018). This aspect results from the charging time constant of the plasma membrane (Vernier et al, 2006). Silve et al (2014), introduced the concept of electro-desensitization, were an increased PRF results in reduced electroporation effects This principle is based on different dynamics of membrane resealing (Lamberti et al, 2015). The exploitation of nsPEF induced effects on prokaryotic cells is a new area of research
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