Differences between Motile and Nonmotile Cells of Haematococcus pluvialis in the Production of Astaxanthin at Different Light Intensities

Abstract

Haematococcus pluvialis, as the best natural resource of astaxanthin, is widely used in nutraceuticals, aquaculture, and cosmetic industries. The purpose of this work was to compare the differences in astaxanthin accumulation between motile and nonmotile cells of H. pluvialis and to determine the relationship between the two cells and astaxanthin production. The experiment design was achieved by two different types of H. pluvialis cell and three different light intensities for an eight day induction period. The astaxanthin concentrations in nonmotile cell cultures were significantly increased compared to motile cell cultures. The increase of astaxanthin was closely associated with the enlargement of cell size, and the nonmotile cells were more conducive to the formation of large astaxanthin-rich cysts than motile cells. The cyst enlargement and astaxanthin accumulation of H. pluvialis were both affected by light intensity, and a general trend was that the higher the light intensity, the larger the cysts formed, and the larger the quantity of astaxanthin accumulated. In addition, the relatively low cell mortality rate in the nonmotile cell cultures indicated that the nonmotile cells have a stronger tolerance to photooxidative stress. We suggest that applying nonmotile cells as the major cell type of H. pluvialis to the induction period may help to enhance the content of astaxanthin and the stability of astaxanthin production.

Astaxanthin accumulation in the green microalga Haematococcus pluvialis: Effect of initial phosphate concentration and stepwise/continuous light stress

“…Additionally, the growth of 4x culture under SS rapidly declined upon the provision of continuous illumination, despite the similar variation of biomass concentration under CS and SS up to day 28. This could have occurred due to the presence of vegetative cells which were sensitive to high light stress [ 55 ].…”

Enhanced Biomass and Astaxanthin Production of Haematococcus pluvialis by a Cell Transformation Strategy with Optimized Initial Biomass Density

“…This is supported by previous researches that the motile cells of H. pluvialis were more susceptible than nonmotile cells to photooxidative stress and easy to die under the high light conditions [ 23 , 32 ]. In addition, our recent work indicated that nonmotile cells had a stronger astaxanthin accumulation capacity than motile cells [ 33 ]. During the encystment, the nonmotile cells have accumulated a certain amount of lipids and carbohydrates which play important roles in the synthesis of astaxanthin [ 10 , 15 ].…”

Biomass and Astaxanthin Productivities of Haematococcus pluvialis in an Angled Twin-Layer Porous Substrate Photobioreactor: Effect of Inoculum Density and Storage Time

“…It is well known that upon exposure to low temperature (4 °C) Haematococcus predominantly exists in the non-motile palmella stage (e.g., as reported previously for an arctic strain by Klochkova et al [29]). Non-flagellate green palmella stages of Haematococcus have a stronger tolerance to photooxidative stress [30] and could be more resistant to cell immobilization and/or may transform more successfully into akinetes. Longer storage times (>24 h) of the initial biomass, however, led to decreased biomass and astaxanthin productivities on TL-PSBRs presumably because of increased rates of cell death in the highly concentrated suspension.…”