Pigment Production under Cold Stress in the Green Microalga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Open Access
- 20 June 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by MDPI AG in Agriculture
- Vol. 11 (6), 564
- https://doi.org/10.3390/agriculture11060564
Abstract
Microalgae have long been used for the commercial production of natural colorants such as carotenoids and chlorophyll. Due to the rising demand for carotenoids and other natural products from microalgae, strategies to increase production efficiency are urgently needed. The production of microalgal biorefineries has been limited to countries with moderate climates. For countries with cooler climates and less daylight, methodologies for the efficient production of microalgal biorefineries need to be investigated. Algal strains that can be safely consumed as whole cells are also attractive alternatives for developing as carotenoid supplements, which can also contain other compounds with health benefits. Using such strains helps to eliminate the need for hazardous solvents for extraction and several other complicated steps. In this study, the mesophilic green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii was employed to study the effects of cold stress on cell physiology and the production of pigments and storage compounds. The results showed that temperatures between 10 and 20 °C induced carotenoid and chlorophyll accumulation in the wild-type strain of C. reinhardtii. Interestingly, the increased level of carotenoids suggested that they might play a crucial role in cold stress acclimation. A temperature of 15 °C resulted in the highest carotenoid and chlorophyll productivity. At this temperature, carotenoid and chlorophyll productivity was 2 times and 1.3 times higher than at 25 °C, respectively. Subjecting a mutant defective in lutein and zeaxanthin accumulation to cold stress revealed that these two carotenoids are not essential for cold stress survival. Therefore, cold temperature could be used as a strategy to induce and increase the productivity of pigments in C. reinhardtii.Keywords
This publication has 50 references indexed in Scilit:
- Effectiveness of Dunaliella salina Extracts against Bacillus subtilis and Bacterial Plant PathogensPathogens, 2020
- Towards a sustainable Dunaliella salina microalgal biorefinery for 9-cis β-carotene productionAlgal Research, 2020
- Microalgal Carotenoids: A Review of Production, Current Markets, Regulations, and Future DirectionMarine Drugs, 2019
- Chemistry in the Bioactivity of Chlorophylls: An OverviewCurrent Medicinal Chemistry, 2018
- Avoiding damage and achieving cold tolerance in rice plantsFood and Energy Security, 2013
- Cold stress signaling networks in ArabidopsisJournal of Plant Biology, 2013
- Copper chlorophyllin: A food colorant with bioactive properties?Food Research International, 2012
- Engineering Cold Stress Tolerance in Crop PlantsCurrent Genomics, 2011
- Health Benefits of Vitamins and Secondary Metabolites of Fruits and Vegetables and Prospects To Increase Their Concentrations by Agronomic ApproachesJournal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 2010
- Carotenoids and other pigments as natural colorantsPure and Applied Chemistry, 2006