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Within-species and temperature-related variation in the growth and natural products of the red alga Asparagopsis taxiformis

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Abstract

The red algal genus Asparagopsis (Bonnemaisoniaceae) is a significant resource for bioactive natural products. However, prior to domestication for commercial production, we need to understand the potential variation in growth and concentration of natural products between isolates of Asparagopsis and, beyond that, how these traits are affected by environmental conditions. Ten isolates of Asparagopsis taxiformis were collected from tropical and warm-temperate regions in Queensland, Australia, and identified by molecular barcoding of the mitochondrial intergenic spacer (cox2–3 spacer). The isolates were cultured at three temperatures ranging from the minimum of the warm-temperate region to the maximum of the tropical region. Growth rates and the concentration of natural products varied between the region of origin, between isolates within region and between temperatures. Growth differed by up to 50% between isolates, whereas the concentration of natural products differed more than tenfold. Growth rates were highest at the minimum temperature of 20.2°C, irrespective of region of origin, and were lowest at the maximum temperature of 28.1°C. Natural products were threefold higher in tropical isolates, and this variation was not correlated to growth. Consequently, targeting isolates with high concentrations of natural products should be the primary strategy for the domestication of Asparagopsis for biotechnology applications.

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Acknowledgments

This research is part of the MBD Energy Research and Development program. We thank Boer Bao, Maria Martinez and Katherine Darlington for assistance with experiments and Veronique Mocellin for assistance with the chemical analysis. NA was funded through the National Environmental Research Program (NERP), an Australian Government initiative.

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Author notes

  1. Rebecca J. Lawton

    Present address: Bay of Plenty Regional Council, Mount Maunganui, 3116, New Zealand

  2. Nicholas A. Paul

    Present address: Faculty of Science, Health, Education and Engineering, University of the Sunshine Coast, Maroochydore, QLD, 4558, Australia

Authors and Affiliations

  1. MACRO — the Centre for Macroalgal Resources and Biotechnology, and, College of Science and Engineering, James Cook University, Townsville, QLD, 4811, Australia

    Leonardo Mata, Rebecca J. Lawton, Marie Magnusson, Rocky de Nys & Nicholas A. Paul

  2. Australian Institute of Marine Science, PMB No. 3, Townsville, QLD, 4810, Australia

    Nikos Andreakis

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  1. Leonardo Mata
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Correspondence to Nicholas A. Paul.

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Mata, L., Lawton, R.J., Magnusson, M. et al. Within-species and temperature-related variation in the growth and natural products of the red alga Asparagopsis taxiformis . J Appl Phycol 29, 1437–1447 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-016-1017-y

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