The Influence of Dissolved Organic Carbon on the Microbial Community Associated with Tetraselmis striata for Bio-Diesel Production

Sae-Hee Kim,Myung-Soo Han,Joo-Hwan Kim,Penelope A Ajani,Bum Soo Park,Jin Ho Kim,Seung Ho Baek

doi:10.3390/app10103601

Abstract

The green alga Tetraselmis striata is regarded as a suitable candidate microalga for bio-diesel production. Recently, T. striata was cultured near Yeonghueung Island, Korea, in a “marine culturing field”; however, its environmental impacts are not yet studied. We estimated the amount of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) released from T. striata cultivation in the marine culturing field, and we investigated the changes in bacterial composition. Then, we designed and installed a mesocosm for further understanding. From the mesocosm results, the DOC released from the cultivation of T. striata led to changes in bacterial communities, disturbance of the microbial food web structure, rapid depletion of nutrients, and a decrease in dissolved oxygen (DO) and pH. Our novel work demonstrates that large amounts of DOC secreted by large-scale microalgal cultures such as that of T. striata can potentially have a significant impact on the structure and function of the surrounding microbial ecosystem.

Highlights

Over the past two decades, the cultivation of microalgae as a source of sustainable biomass for the production of biofuels gained much attention [1,2]
The Planctomycetaceae bacterial group dominated at day 0 and maintained its dominance (29.4%) in natural seawater until day 9
Our novel work demonstrates that large amounts of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) secreted by large-scale microalgal cultures such as that of T. striata can potentially have a significant impact on the structure and function of the surrounding microbial ecosystem

Summary

Introduction

Over the past two decades, the cultivation of microalgae as a source of sustainable biomass for the production of biofuels gained much attention [1,2]. Marine microalgae cultivation is relatively low cost, has a low space requirement, and can utilize a natural source of nutrients for algal growth [3]. Sci. 2020, 10, 3601 bio-diesel production due to its high lipid content and fast growth [1,4,5]. Various studies were carried out to search for the optimal growth conditions of this species [6,7,8] and to increase the lipid content using genetic, biotic, and environmental manipulations [9,10,11,12,13]

Results

Discussion

Conclusion