Abstract
The present study evaluates the association of the blue–green microalga Arthrospira maxima (Spirulina), which is known for its CO2 fixation, biomass, and high-value metabolite production, with the microalga growth-promoting bacterium Azospirillum brasilense under the stressful composition of biogas. The results demonstrated that A. maxima co-cultured with A. brasilense under the high CO2 (25%) and methane (CH4; 75%) concentrations of biogas recorded a CO2 fixation rate of 0.24 ± 0.03 g L–1 days–1, thereby attaining a biomass production of 1.8 ± 0.03 g L–1. Similarly, the biochemical composition quality of this microalga enhanced the attainment of higher contents of carbohydrates, proteins, and phycocyanin than cultured alone. However, metabolites other than tryptophan (Trp) and indole-3-acetic acid could have supported this beneficial interaction. Overall, the results demonstrate that this prokaryotic consortium of A. maxima–A. brasilense established a synergic association under biogas, which represents a sustainable strategy to improve the bio-refinery capacity of this microalga and increase the usefulness of A. brasilense in multiple economic sectors.
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The datasets generated during and/or analyses during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
Francisco J. Choix acknowledges Consejo Nacional de Humanidades, Ciencia y Tecnología (CONAHCYT, Mexico) for the support under the Program-Project 90 Cátedras CONAHCYT; Diana Fischer for English edition.
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This study was funded by CONAHCyT- Frontiers of Science 2019 Project 15769.
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Martha Lara: investigation, formal analysis. Eduardo Juárez: investigation, development or design of methodology. Pedro Mondragón: investigation, visualization, formal analysis. Héctor Ocampo and Amayaly Becerril: visualization, data curation, formal analysis. Oskar A. Palacios: data curation, writing—review and editing. Francisco Choix: writing—original draft, funding acquisition, project administration, conceptualization.
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Choix, F.J., Palacios, O.A., Mondragón-Cortez, P. et al. Synergic association of the consortium Arthrospira maxima with the microalga growth-promoting bacterium Azospirillum cultured under the stressful biogas composition. Bioprocess Biosyst Eng 47, 181–193 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-023-02947-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00449-023-02947-5