Production of fucoxanthin, chrysolaminarin, and eicosapentaenoic acid by Odontella aurita under different nitrogen supply regimes

Abstract

Microalgae are recognized as promising producers of many bioactive products, but their utility is limited due to high production costs. We subjected the marine diatom Odontella aurita to three nitrogen supply regimes [initial low nitrogen (ILN), initial high nitrogen (IHN), and initial high nitrogen plus supplementary nitrogen (SN)] to investigate the accumulation of three high-value bioactive components: fucoxanthin, chrysolaminarin and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA). We found that SN conditions maximized fucoxanthin accumulation: a maximum productivity of 6.01mgL-1d-1 was obtained, a 4.32-fold and 1.42-fold increase over production in the ILN and IHN groups, respectively. After nitrogen was depleted in the growth medium, chrysolaminarin became the dominant energy storage compound. Chrysolaminarin content rose to 60.33% of dry weight (DW) in the ILN group, and 46.27% of DW in the IHN group. Variations in fatty acid composition across the different nitrogen supply regimes indicated that EPA primarily accumulated in the glycolipids, especially when nitrogen supply was sufficient. The maximum productivity of chrysolaminarin (161.55mgL-1d-1) and EPA (9.37mgL-1d-1) was observed in the IHN group. However, IHN conditions did not maximize overall content of either compound. Our results demonstrated that O.aurita is potentially useful as a producer of a variety of bioactive products; the compounds produced by this species can be controlled by altering the nitrogen supply.