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Carotenoid production and change of photosynthetic functions in Scenedesmus sp. exposed to nitrogen limitation and acetate treatment

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Abstract

Under stress conditions, some microalgae up-regulate certain biosynthetic pathways, leading to the accumulation of specific compounds. For example, changing nutrient composition can induce stress in algae’s physiological activities, which may trigger an intense increase in carotenoid production. In this study, the change of photosynthetic functions and carotenoid production in the green microalga Scenedesmus sp. was investigated when algal cultures were exposed to conditions including limited nitrogen content with the addition of sodium acetate. Microalgal cultures were treated for 18 days under higher irradiance conditions. We observed a decrease of chlorophyll content induced concomitantly with a decline of photosystem II and I photochemistry. At the same time, an important increase in carotenoid content was detected. By using high-performance liquid chromatographic analysis, we found that the secondary carotenoids astaxanthin and canthaxanthin were accumulated compared to controls. During the process of carotenoid accumulation, chlorophyll degradation was found in addition to a strong decrease in photosynthetic electron transport. Such changes may be associated with the structural reorganization of the photosynthetic apparatus and can be a useful indicator of secondary carotenoid accumulation in algal cultures.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by NSERC discovery grant of R. Popovic. M Darwish is supported by an NRC post-doctoral fellowship. F. Perreault is supported by a NSERC PhD fellowship.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Department, Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM), P.O Box. 8888, Downtown Station, Montreal, QC, Canada, H3C 3P8

    Laura Pirastru, François Perreault, Louka Sirois, Lekha Sleno & Radovan Popovic

  2. National Research Center, Cairo, Egypt

    Mohamed Darwish

  3. Pharmaqam, UQAM, Montreal, QC, Canada

    Fong Lam Chu & Lekha Sleno

Authors
  1. Laura Pirastru
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  2. Mohamed Darwish
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  3. Fong Lam Chu
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  4. François Perreault
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  5. Louka Sirois
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  6. Lekha Sleno
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  7. Radovan Popovic
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Correspondence to Radovan Popovic.

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Pirastru, L., Darwish, M., Chu, F.L. et al. Carotenoid production and change of photosynthetic functions in Scenedesmus sp. exposed to nitrogen limitation and acetate treatment. J Appl Phycol 24, 117–124 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-011-9657-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-011-9657-4

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