Abstract
Nitrogen and phosphorous are important nutritional regulators for the growth of cyanobacteria, thereby having a significant impact in bloom formation by toxic species. Usage of toxic cyanobacteria for increasing valuable metabolite production by nutrient manipulation is still unexplored. Hence, the current work is aimed to estimate and compare growth, pigment, and increased lipid production coupled with the identification of fatty acids between two toxic strains—Anabaena circinalis FSS 124 and Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii FSS 127 under various combinations of these two nutrients. Low level of nitrogen and phosphorous enhanced lipid content in both strains (˃ 20% and 30% respectively) and C. raciborskii, respectively. Lipid productivity in low phosphorous concentration (P0.5) was achieved significantly high in C. raciborskii. Similarly, a substantial amount of carotenoids was obtained at reduced nitrogen and phosphorous in C. raciborskii accompanied by lessened growth and Chl a concentration. Unlikely, enough biomass (˃ 2 g L−1) was produced at high nutrient levels in both species. Comparative statistical significance (p < 0.05) was found between two species regarding biomass production, chlorophyll concentration, lipid content, and productivity and between these factors in each species under both nutrient variations. FAME of Cylindrospermopsis is composed of saturated fatty acids (˃ 50%) and MUFA (˃ 25%) while Anabaena contains PUFA (˃ 21%) additionally. However, the study highlights C. raciborskii as potential lipid and carotenoid producer at nutrient stress and finds a novel way to utilize these cyanobacterial biomasses, which cause immense environmental hazards and life threats.
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Acknowledgments
We thank Ms. Cathy Johnston, Manager, Australian National Algae Supply Service (CSIRO, Tasmania) for providing the strains. The GCMS analysis of FAME was facilitated by SAIF, VIT University, Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India.
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AS and RR devised and planned the experiments; AS performed the experiments; AS and RBV analyzed and interpreted the results; RR supervised the whole project; AS and RBV prepared the figures and tables; AS wrote the manuscript; all the authors reviewed and commented on the manuscript; AS edited the manuscript; all authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Sarkar, A., Rajarathinam, R. & Venkateshan, R.B. A comparative assessment of growth, pigment and enhanced lipid production by two toxic freshwater cyanobacteria Anabaena circinalis FSS 124 and Cylindrospermopsis raciborskii FSS 127 under various combinations of nitrogen and phosphorous inputs. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28, 15923–15933 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11754-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-11754-4