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Determination of intracellular lipid and main fatty acids of Nannochloropsis oceanica by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy

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Abstract

Fatty acid profile was one of the important characteristic parameters of edible oil. With the intensification of interest in microalgae as a potential source of edible oil, rapid methods are needed to determine the fatty acid composition of microalgae. Attenuated total reflection-Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (ATR-FTIR) was applied to determine the lipid and fatty acid contents of Nannochloropsis oceanica, a species rich in eicosapentaenoic acid. Samples with different intracellular components were obtained by setting different culture conditions (light intensity and nitrogen concentration). In the spectra of FTIR, some characteristic bands for lipids (3025–2800 cm−1, 1770–1710 cm−1, 1480–1350 cm−1) were identified. Partial least square regression (PLSR) models were developed to predict total biomass, lipid contents, and main fatty acid contents (palmitic acid C16:0, palmitoleic acid C16:1, eicosatetraenoic acid C20:4, eicosapentaenoic acid C20:5). Generally, the prediction ability of the model established with full spectra was slightly better than that of the model established with specific bands. In the optimized model, excellent coefficients of determination (R2 ≥ 0.90), both for calibration and prediction, were found for all variables, except for fatty acid C20:4, which was slightly worse (R2 = 0.8797). The pretreatment methods of samples were further studied. It was found that the acid-heating method (0.1 M HCl, 100 °C, 0.5 h) effectively reduced the interference of the carbohydrate in samples, thus improving the measurement of the characteristic fatty acids C20:4 and C20:5 of N. oceanica. This study showed the feasibility of FTIR as a rapid screening method for evaluating biomass and lipid content, especially some special fatty acid profile of microalgae.

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Fig. 1

source set at four concentrations: N, 10 mmol L−1; 1/2 N, 5 mmol L−1; 1/4 N, 2.5 mmol L−1; 1/8 N, 1.25 mmol L−1)

Fig. 2

source set at four concentrations: N, 10 mmol L−1; 1/2 N, 5 mmol L−1; 1/4 N, 2.5 mmol L−1; 1/8 N, 1.25 mmol L−1)

Fig. 3
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Data availability

The datasets generated and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the National Key R&D Program of China (2018YFD0401105).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Biochemical Engineering, Institute of Process Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, People’s Republic of China

    Dongmei Zhang, Qijun Li, Chenghu Yan & Wei Cong

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, People’s Republic of China

    Qijun Li

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  1. Dongmei Zhang
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  2. Qijun Li
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  3. Chenghu Yan
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  4. Wei Cong
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All authors made substantial contributions in conceptualizing, drafting, developing, and reviewing the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Wei Cong.

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Zhang, D., Li, Q., Yan, C. et al. Determination of intracellular lipid and main fatty acids of Nannochloropsis oceanica by ATR-FTIR spectroscopy. J Appl Phycol 34, 343–352 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-021-02607-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-021-02607-9

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