Abstract
Microalgal growth maximization is becoming a duty for enhancing the biotechnological fate of these photosynthetic microorganisms. This study, based on an extensive set of data, aims to revisit diatom’s cultivation in laboratory with the objective to increase growth rate and biomass production. We investigated the growth ability and resource requirements of the coastal diatom Skeletonema marinoi Sarno & Zingone grown in laboratory in the conventional f/2 medium with aeration and in two modified conditions: (i) the same medium with water movement inside and (ii) an enriched medium with the same water movement. Results revealed that, by doubling the concentration of phosphate, silicate, microelements and vitamins, growth rate was successfully enhanced, preventing phosphate or silicate limitation in the f/2 culture medium. Yet, irrespective of the media (f/2 or enriched one), water movement induced an increase of growth efficiency compared to aeration, affecting nutrients’ requirement and consumption by diatoms. This study is an important step for enhancing diatom biomass production, reducing its cost, as required in the blue biotechnology context.
Highlights
The interest in maximizing microalgal production is nowadays growing since this group of photosynthetic microbes is greatly promising as natural sources of many products/processes useful for various biotechnological applications regarding the environment, energy, health, food, or cosmetics[1]
PO43− concentration dropped down to
NO3− concentration decreased in parallel with an increase of nitrite (NO2−) and ammonium (NH4+) concentrations (Fig. 2A,B), while the increases of NO2− and NH4+ concentration were significantly correlated together (p < 0.01; Fig. 2C)
Summary
The interest in maximizing microalgal production is nowadays growing since this group of photosynthetic microbes is greatly promising as natural sources of many products/processes useful for various biotechnological applications regarding the environment, energy, health, food, or cosmetics[1]. Uptake and requirements of nutrients directly affect growth process, as reported in the Growth rate hypothesis (GRH)[13,14,19,22] The latter states “differences in organismal C/N/P ratios are caused by differential allocations to RNA necessary to meet the protein synthesis demands of rapid rates of biomass growth and development”[14]. Another crucial aspect for microalgal cultivation is the shear stress[23] and small-scale turbulence[24,25,26]. While air bubbling can regulate pH variations during cultivation[27,28], it is known to be detrimental to microalgal cells[29]
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