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Growth, antioxidant capacity and total carotene of Dunaliella salina DCCBC15 in a low cost enriched natural seawater medium

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Abstract

Dunaliella is currently drawing worldwide attention as an alternative source of nutraceuticals. Commercially, β-carotene making up over 10 % of Dunaliella biomass is generating the most interest. These compounds, because of their non-toxic properties, have found applications in the food, drug and cosmetic industry. The β-carotene content of Dunaliella cells, however, depends heavily on the growth conditions and especially on the availability of nutrients, salinity, irradiance and temperature in the growth medium. A chemically well defined medium is usually required, which significantly contributes to the cost of pigment production; hence a desire for low cost marine media. The present study aimed at evaluating the suitability of six different media, especially exploiting local potential resources, for the mass production of Dunaliella salina DCCBC15 as functional food and medicine. The efficacy of a new selected low-cost enriched natural seawater medium (MD4), supplemented with industrial N–P–K fertilizer, was investigated with respect to biomass production, chlorophyll, antioxidant capacity, and total carotene by Dunaliella though culture conditions were not optimized yet. This new medium (MD4) appears extremely promising, since it affords a higher production of Dunaliella biomass and pigments compared with the control, a common artificial medium (MD1), while allowing a substantial reduction in the production costs. The medium is also recommended for culturing other marine algae.

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Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful for the funding of Nafosted (Funding number: 106.16-2011.31) and the funding of HCM National University to carry out this research (Funding number: B2012-28-02/HD-DHQT-QLKH). The authors are also grateful to Dr. Jeurgen Polle at Department of Biology, Brooklyn college for providing Dunaliella salina DCCBC15 for the study and his valuable advices. The authors would like to thank anonymous reviewers of this manuscript for correction and improvement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biotechnology, International University, VNU, Thu Duc Dist., Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam

    Duc Tran & Nguyen Doan

  2. FAMU BioEnergy Group, College of Engineering Sciences, Technology and Agriculture, Florida A&M University, Tallahassee, FL, 32307, USA

    Clifford Louime

  3. Dipartimento di Scienze della Vita e dell’Ambiente (DISVA), Università Politecnica delle Marche, Via Brecce Bianche, 60131, Ancona, Italy

    Mario Giordano

  4. Center for Estuarine, Environmental and Coastal Oceans Monitoring, Dowling College, 150 Idle Hour Blvd., Oakdale, NY, 11769, USA

    Sixto Portilla

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  1. Duc Tran
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  2. Nguyen Doan
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  3. Clifford Louime
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  4. Mario Giordano
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  5. Sixto Portilla
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Correspondence to Duc Tran.

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Tran, D., Doan, N., Louime, C. et al. Growth, antioxidant capacity and total carotene of Dunaliella salina DCCBC15 in a low cost enriched natural seawater medium. World J Microbiol Biotechnol 30, 317–322 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-013-1413-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11274-013-1413-2

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