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Purification of fucoxanthin from the diatom Amphora capitellata by preparative chromatography after its enhanced productivity via oxidative stress

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Abstract

Microalgae with high growth rates represent a potential source of carotenoids including fucoxanthin. For commercial fucoxanthin production, choosing the cultivation system is a critical parameter where the final biomass must contain a high content of the target product. To realize this, the reaction system must allow the use of stress conditions that induce the synthesis of these compounds. In this study, oxidative stress was applied to the diatom Amphora capitellata by the formation of reactive oxygen species in the culture medium through chemical reactions which generate. The effect of this oxidative stress on the amount of fucoxanthin and specific growth rate of A. capitellata was investigated. In the presence of H2O2/NaOCl, fucoxanthin content was 41.83 ± 0.92 mg g−1 as determined by HPLC–DAD a 2.20-fold increase compared with the control group. For the purification of fucoxanthin, preparative HPLC using a semi-prep C30 carotenoid column (10 × 250 mm, 5 µm) was used for the first time with an isocratic elution of 75:25 (methanol:acetonitrile) mobile phase at a flow rate of 4 mL min−1. Liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS) was employed for the confirmation of fucoxanthin. The developed method has potential to obtain highly pure fucoxanthin for food and pharmaceutical applications using A. capitellata as a commercial source of fucoxanthin, particularly after its enhancement via oxidative stress.

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Acknowledgements

This publication is based upon work from COST Action CA15136 (EUROCAROTEN) supported by COST (European Cooperation in Science and Technology) program. Moreover, the authors would like to acknowledge Ege University Application and Research Center for Testing and Analysis (EGE MATAL) for the facilities (SEM and HPLC-DAD Analyses), Pharmaceutical Sciences Research Centre (FABAL) for prep-HPLC analyses as well as HÜBTUAM for the mass analyses (LC-APCI-MS/MS). Finally, the authors are grateful to Dr. Çiğdem Yengin for her help and patience in purification studies.

Funding

This research was funded by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) through the COST Project 216Z167.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Application and Research Center for Testing and Analysis (EGE MATAL), Ege University, Bornova 35100, Izmir, Turkey

    Ayşegül Erdoğan

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Department of Bioengineering, Ege University, Izmir, Turkey

    Ayça Büşra Karataş, Zeliha Demirel & Meltem Conk Dalay

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  1. Ayşegül Erdoğan
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  2. Ayça Büşra Karataş
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Contributions

AE, ZD, and MCD conceived and designed research. AE, ZD, and ABK conducted experiments. AE, ZD, and MCD analyzed data. AE and ABK drafted the manuscript. AE, MCD, and ZD edited the manuscript. Finally, all authors read and approved final the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Ayşegül Erdoğan.

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Erdoğan, A., Karataş, A.B., Demirel, Z. et al. Purification of fucoxanthin from the diatom Amphora capitellata by preparative chromatography after its enhanced productivity via oxidative stress. J Appl Phycol 34, 301–309 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-021-02625-7

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