Abstract
In the present study, the effects of hypo-osmotic and hyper-osmotic shock on β-carotene and glycerol production by a native strain of Dunaliella salina isolated from Maharlu Salt Lake, Fars province, Iran, were investigated. The amount of β-carotene and glycerol at 1 h, 2 h, 8 h and 24 h after initiating hypo-osmotic (1 M NaCl) and hyper-osmotic shocks (3 M NaCl); and at normal condition (2 M NaCl) were measured. At hyper-osmotic medium, β-carotene concentration reached its maximum amount after 2 h and remained constant up to 24 h. Even so, increasing of glycerol concentration was initiated after 2 h and reached the highest value at 24 h after salinity stress induction. At hypo-osmotic shock, β-carotene and glycerol concentrations were decreased. There are lots of lakes and salt marshes in Iran, which can be suitable environments for growing D. salina. So it seems that the isolated D. salina is potentially useful for planting in small locations to promote commercial production of β-carotene and glycerol.
Highlights
Microalgae have already served as a major natural producer of valuable macromolecules including carotenoids, fatty acids, biofuel, and single cell protein; and bioconverter of steroids (Ghasemi et al, 2011a; Ghasemi et al, 2008a; Nasseri et al, 2011; Yazdi et al, 2005)
The effects of hypo-osmotic and hyper-osmotic shock on β-carotene and glycerol production by a native strain of Dunaliella salina isolated from Maharlu Salt Lake, Fars province, Iran, were investigated
The isolated microalgal strain found to be a Dunaliella salina strain which was deposited in the microalgal culture collection of Shiraz University of Medical Sciences (MCCS)
Summary
Microalgae have already served as a major natural producer of valuable macromolecules including carotenoids, fatty acids (omega-3), biofuel, and single cell protein; and bioconverter of steroids (Ghasemi et al, 2011a; Ghasemi et al, 2008a; Nasseri et al, 2011; Yazdi et al, 2005). Dunaliella can accumulate glycerol up to 50% of dry weight under appropriate conditions (Hosseini Tafreshi and Shariati, 2009). Many studies have reported that under stress conditions, Dunaliella species may accumulate β-carotene up to 10% of a dry weight biomass (Lamers et al, 2012).Recently, due to its demand in pharmaceutical and food industries, production of β-carotene has attracted more attention (Mojaat et al, 2008). There is a few works on production of glycerol and β-carotene by native strains of D. salina in geographically distinct of Iran.In the present study, the effects of salinity on glycerol and β-carotene produced by a native strain of D. salina, isolated from Maharlu Salt Lake, Fars province, Iran, was investigated
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