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Impact of nitrogen limitation on biomass, photosynthesis, and lipid accumulation in Chlorella sorokiniana

Journal of Applied Phycology volume 28, pages 803–812 (2016)Cite this article

Abstract

Induction of oil accumulation in algae for biofuel production is often achieved by withholding nitrogen. However, withholding nitrogen often reduces total biomass yield. In this report, it is demonstrated that Chlorella sorokiniana will not only accumulate substantial quantities of neutral lipids when grown in the absence of nitrogen but will also exhibit unimpeded growth rates for up to 2 weeks. To determine the physiological basis for the observed increase in oil and biomass accumulation, we compared photosynthetic and respiration rates and chlorophyll, lipid, and total energy content under ammonia replete and deplete conditions. Under N-depleted growth conditions, there was a 64 % increase in total energy density and a ∼20-fold increase in oil accumulation relative to N-replete growth leading to a 1.6-fold greater total energy yield in N-depleted than in N-replete cultures. We propose that the higher energy accumulation in N-depleted cultures is due to enhanced photosynthetic energy capture and conversion associated with reduced chlorophyll levels and reduced self-shading as well as a shift in metabolism leading to the accumulation of oils.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Paige Pardington for her help in assisting with the photobioreactors during this experiment. This work is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy under contract DE-EE0003046 awarded to the National Alliance for Advanced Biofuels and Bioproducts for RTS and TS and by the Center for Animal Health and Food Safety at New Mexico State University for TS.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. New Mexico Consortium, Los Alamos, NM, 87544, USA

    Sangeeta Negi, Natalia Friedland, Sowmya Subramanian & Richard Sayre

  2. Bioscience Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA

    Amanda N. Barry & Richard Sayre

  3. Center for Animal Health, Food Safety & Bio-Security, New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, NM, 88003, USA

    Nilusha Sudasinghe, F. Omar Holguin, Barry Dungan & Tanner Schaub

  4. Department of Biology, Missouri Baptist University, Saint Louis, MO, 63141, USA

    Shayani Pieris

Authors
  1. Sangeeta Negi
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  2. Amanda N. Barry
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  3. Natalia Friedland
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  4. Nilusha Sudasinghe
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  5. Sowmya Subramanian
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  6. Shayani Pieris
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  7. F. Omar Holguin
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  8. Barry Dungan
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  9. Tanner Schaub
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  10. Richard Sayre
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard Sayre.

Additional information

Sangeeta Negi and Amanda N. Barry shared first author

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Negi, S., Barry, A.N., Friedland, N. et al. Impact of nitrogen limitation on biomass, photosynthesis, and lipid accumulation in Chlorella sorokiniana . J Appl Phycol 28, 803–812 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-015-0652-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-015-0652-z

Keywords

  • Microalgae
  • Chlorella sorokiniana
  • Photobioreactor
  • Lipid production
  • Biofuels
  • Photosynthesis