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Effects of cassava starch hydrolysate on cell growth and lipid accumulation of the heterotrophic microalgae Chlorella protothecoides

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Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology

Abstract

Heterotrophic fermentation of microalgae has been shown to accumulate high amounts of microalgal lipids, which are regarded as one of the most promising feedstocks for sustainable biodiesel production. To increase the biomass and reduce the cost of microalgal culture, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the possibility of using cassava starch hydrolysate (CSH) instead of glucose as carbon source for heterotrophic culture of Chlorella protothecoides in flasks. First, the two-step enzymatic process of hydrolysis of cassava starch by α-amylase and glucoamylase was optimized; the conversion efficiency for cassava starch was up to 97.7%, and over 80% of CSH was glucose. Subsequently, we compared heterotrophic cultures of C. protothecoiedes using glucose or CSH as carbon source. The results demonstrated that when using CSH as the organic carbon source, the highest biomass and the maximum total lipid yield obtained were 15.8 and 4.19 g/L, representing increases of 42.3 and 27.7%, respectively, compared to using glucose as the organic carbon source. This suggests that CSH is a better carbon source than glucose for heterotrophic Chlorella protothecoides.

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Acknowledgment

This research was supported by NSF Guangdong Joint project U0633009.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Light Industry and Food Sciences, South China University of Technology, 381 Wushan Road, 510640, Guangzhou, China

    Aili Wei, Xuewu Zhang, Dong Wei, Gu Chen & Shang-Tian Yang

  2. Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Tsinghua University, 100084, Beijing, China

    Qingyu Wu

  3. William G. Lowrie Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, The Ohio State University, 140 West 19th Avenue, Columbus, OH, 43210, USA

    Shang-Tian Yang

Authors
  1. Aili Wei
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  2. Xuewu Zhang
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  3. Dong Wei
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  4. Gu Chen
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  5. Qingyu Wu
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  6. Shang-Tian Yang
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Correspondence to Xuewu Zhang or Shang-Tian Yang.

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Wei, A., Zhang, X., Wei, D. et al. Effects of cassava starch hydrolysate on cell growth and lipid accumulation of the heterotrophic microalgae Chlorella protothecoides . J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol 36, 1383–1389 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-009-0624-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10295-009-0624-x

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