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Culturable diversity and biochemical features of thraustochytrids from coastal waters of Southern China

  • Environmental biotechnology
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Abstract

Thraustochytrids are ubiquitous marine osmo-heterotrophic fungi-like microorganisms with only about 40 identified species till now. In this study, a total of 60 thraustochytrid strains were isolated from marine coastal habitats. Analysis of 18S rRNA gene sequences revealed that they belonged to three genera, i.e., Schizochytrium, Aurantiochytrium, and Thraustochytrium. All of the isolates were found to show considerable cellulolytic and lipolytic activities. Strains of Aurantiochytrium sp. and Thraustochytrium sp. were found to produce the highest levels of extracellular polysaccharides (EPS), which reached 345 μg ml−1 in the growth media. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra of the EPS samples derived from two thraustochytrids (PKU#Sed1 and #SW1) displayed peaks for carbohydrates, proteins, lipids, uronic acids, and nucleic acids. Fatty acid profiles of four thraustochytrids comprised of palmitic acid (C16:0) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) as their major constituents. Schizochytrium sp. demonstrated the highest DHA production at 44 % of total fatty acids (TFA) with biomass and DHA yield of 7.1 and 1.6 g l−1, respectively, on the fourth day of growth. All the four isolates exhibited considerable production of palmitic acid (16:0) in their fatty acid profiles ranging from 35 to 50 % TFA. This is the first report on extracellular enzymes, EPS, and DHA production from thraustochytrids isolated from the coastal habitats of China.

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Acknowledgments

This work was partially funded by National Science Foundation of China grant 31170109 (GYW) and Shenzhen Development and Reform Commission grant 835 (GYW). Members of Shenzhen Key Lab of Nano-Micro Material Research, Peking University, are acknowledged for their technical support during FTIR analysis of EPS samples. All the authors are thankful to the Shenzhen Marine environment and resource monitoring center for the facilities extended during sampling.

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  1. School of Environment and Energy, Peking University Shenzhen Graduate School, Shenzhen, 518055, China

    Ying Liu, Purnima Singh, Yuan Sun, Shengji Luan & Guangyi Wang

  2. Tianjin University Center for Marine Environmental Ecology, School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Tianjin University, Tianjin, 300072, China

    Guangyi Wang

  3. Department of Microbiology, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI, 86822, USA

    Guangyi Wang

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  1. Ying Liu
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Correspondence to Guangyi Wang.

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Y. Liu and P. Singh contributed equally to this work.

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Liu, Y., Singh, P., Sun, Y. et al. Culturable diversity and biochemical features of thraustochytrids from coastal waters of Southern China. Appl Microbiol Biotechnol 98, 3241–3255 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00253-013-5391-y

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