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Phosphate limitation promotes unsaturated fatty acids and arachidonic acid biosynthesis by microalgae Porphyridium purpureum

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Abstract

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) are highly appreciated on their nutritive value for human health and aquaculture. P. purpureum, one of the red microalgae acknowledged as a promising accumulator of ARA, was chosen as the target algae in the present research. Effects of sodium bicarbonate (0.04–1.2 g/L), temperature (25, 30 and 33 °C) and phosphate (0.00–0.14 g/L) on biomass yield, total fatty acids (TFA) and arachidonic acid (ARA) accumulation were investigated systemically. NaHCO3 dose of 0.8 g/L and moderate temperature of 30 °C were preferred. In addition, TFA and ARA production were significantly enhanced by an appropriate concentration of phosphate, and the highest TFA yield of 666.38 mg/L and ARA yield of 159.74 mg/L were obtained at a phosphate concentration of 0.035 g/L. Interestingly, with phosphate concentration continuing to fall, UFA/TFA and ARA/EPA ratios were increased accordingly, suggesting that phosphate limitation promoted unsaturated fatty acids and arachidonic acid biosynthesis. Low concentration of phosphate may be favored to increase the enzymatic activities of ∆6-desaturase, which played a key role in catalyzing the conversion of C16:0 to C18:2, and thus the selectivity of UFA increased. Meanwhile, the increase of ARA selectivity could be attributed to ω6 pathway promotion and ∆17-desaturase activity inhibition with phosphate limitation. Phosphate limitation strategy enhanced unsaturated fatty acids and ARA biosynthesis in P. purpureum, and can be applied in commercial scale manufacturing and commercialization of ARA.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the special fund for Fujian Ocean High-Tech Industry Development (No. 2013015), China, and research program from the Science and Technology Bureau of Xiamen City in China (3502Z20151254).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Gaomin Su, Kailin Jiao, Zheng Li, Xiaoyi Guo, Jingyu Chang, Yong Sun, Xianhai Zeng & Lu Lin

  2. Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Theoneste Ndikubwimana & Yinghua Lu

  3. The Key Laboratory for Synthetic Biotechnology of Xiamen City, Xiamen University, Xiamen, 361005, China

    Xianhai Zeng & Yinghua Lu

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  1. Gaomin Su
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Correspondence to Xianhai Zeng.

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Su, G., Jiao, K., Li, Z. et al. Phosphate limitation promotes unsaturated fatty acids and arachidonic acid biosynthesis by microalgae Porphyridium purpureum . Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 39, 1129–1136 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-016-1589-6

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