LED light for microalgal carotenoids and antioxidant capacity increase - a profitable advance in blue biotechnology
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1
CIIMAR, Portugal
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2
ICBAS, Portugal
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3
FCUP, Portugal
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4
FEUP, Portugal
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5
LEPABE, Portugal
Microalgae are photoautotrophic organisms, so light is a key factor in biomass and metabolites production. Light absorption by photosynthetic organisms depends on the chemical nature of their constitutive pigments – generally, they have two major absorption bands in the blue and red areas. Fluorescence light has been widely used as light source, yet Light Emitting Diodes (LED) have been suggested as a promising alternative for a number of advantages: (i) it generates lower heat, (ii) it has longer life-expectancy, and (iii) it allows higher conversion efficiency.
The aim of this work was to ascertain if LED could be an alternative light source in production of carotenoids and antioxidant content by microalgae. Therefore the influence of red, blue and mixture of these two LEDs were monitored and compared with fluorescent light in cultures of Gloeothece sp. Thus, Gloeothece sp. was accordingly grown until reach stationary phase in each light condition at a total light intensity of 100 µmol.m2.s-1, at 25ºC and pH 8. Carotenoids and antioxidant capacity of intracellular crude extracts were measured along the time by HPLC-DAD and ABTS●+ scavenging method, respectively.
In terms of carotenoids production, our results showed that with the exception of blue LED, the other tested LED have similar or better effect in maximum carotenoids productivity. Furthermore, the same behavior is observed in antioxidant capacity over the time, wherein and as expected the profile of carotenoids production and antioxidant capacity are analogous. Also, to the best LED conditions in terms of carotenoids production and antioxidant capacity – red and red:blue (40:60) LEDs, the influence of infra-red (IR) light was tested. It was observed a negative effect in carotenoids production and a non-influence in the absolute maximum value of antioxidant capacity, however it promotes a displacement of peaks of antioxidant capacity over the time.
As major conclusion, LED, besides their efficiency and energy savings, are a profitable alternative for industry on carotenoids and antioxidant compounds production, in particularly the red and red:blue (40:60). Also, it is possible to confirm that carotenoids may be the major contributors to the assessed antioxidant capacity in all the light conditions due their similar profile of production along the time.
Acknowledgements
This work was financially supported by a PhD fellowship (ref. SFRH/BD/62121/2009) for author HMA, and a postdoctoral fellowship (ref. SFRH/BPD/72777/2010) granted to author ACG, by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (FCT, Portugal) under the auspices of POPH/FSE. It was also support by the Strategic Funding UID/Multi/04423/2013-CIIMAR; Project UID/EQU/00511/2013-LEPABE by FCT and ERDF, in the framework of program PT2020; from the European Union (FEDER funds through COMPETE) and FCT through project INCENTIVO/EQB/UI0511/2014 project. ARALAB and Concessus conceded a climate chamber S600PL equipped with LED so it was possible to carry out this study.
Keywords:
LEDs,
Gloeothece,
Lutein,
B-carotene,
antioxidant activity
Conference:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies, Porto, Portugal, 5 Sep - 9 Sep, 2016.
Presentation Type:
Poster Presentation
Topic:
4. FISHERIES, AQUACULTURE AND BIOTECHNOLOGY
Citation:
Amaro
HM,
Pagel
F,
Sousa Pinto
I,
Malcata
X and
Guedes
A
(2016). LED light for microalgal carotenoids and antioxidant capacity increase - a profitable advance in blue biotechnology.
Front. Mar. Sci.
Conference Abstract:
XIX Iberian Symposium on Marine Biology Studies.
doi: 10.3389/conf.FMARS.2016.05.00213
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Received:
30 Apr 2016;
Published Online:
03 Sep 2016.
*
Correspondence:
Dr. Helena M Amaro, CIIMAR, Porto, Portugal, lena.amaro@gmail.com