Abstract
We investigated the effect of carbon/nitrogen (C/N) ratio on astaxanthin synthesis in Haematococcus pluvialis during photoautotrophic induction by continuous input of both CO2-air mixture and intense light. When H. pluvialis was induced by constant irradiance induction at 200 μmol photon m-2 s-1, there was a positive correlation with astaxanthin content and C/N ratio, which was similar to the case for heterotrophic induction. Lower C/N ratios did not retard Haematococcus encystment, but did increase culture biomass, resulting in a decrease in astaxanthin production because of light limitation. However, induction using variable irradiance showed that reduction of astaxanthin production at low C/N ratios was successfully overcome by simply increasing the light intensity from 200 to 300 μmol photon m-2 s-1 to overcome the light limitation. This resulted in a greatly enhanced astaxanthin synthesis in proportion to cell density in cultures with low C/N ratios. Our results indicate that light intensity is more critical than C/N ratio in astaxanthin production by H. pluvialis during photoautotrophic induction.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 987-994 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology |
Volume | 74 |
Issue number | 5 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Apr 2007 |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:Acknowledgment This research was supported by a grant (DG2-201) from the Carbon Dioxide Reduction & Sequestration Research Center, one of the 21st Century Frontier Programs funded by the Ministry of Science and Technology of the Korean government.