Highly Efficient Water-Based Extraction of Biliprotein R-Phycoerythrin From Marine the Red-Macroalga Sarcopeltis skottsbergii by Ultrasound and High-Pressure Homogenization Methods

Abstract

Sarcopeltis skottsbergii is an endemic species of the southern region of South America, with R-phycoerythrin (R-PE) as an accessory photosynthetic pigment. The production of S. skottsbergii is around twenty thousand tons of dry alga per year. The evaluation of (R-PE) in a biorefinery model is still incipient in the algal biotechnology area and will be used in the food, pharmaceutical, cosmeceutical, and nutraceutical industries. This work evaluated the cell disruption and separation processes by using two green technologies, ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and high-pressure homogenization (HPH), to obtain an R-phycoerythrin enriched extract from S. skottsbergii. Two-levels three-factor central composite design (CCD) and response surface methodology (RSM) were carried out to optimize the extraction conditions, including the factors for UAE (time, amplitude, and solvent) and HPH (Pressure, number of passes, and solvent). Additionally, a second-order polynomial fit was performed to fit the experimental data by the green method. HPH method was the most efficient extraction method under the conditions obtained of 100-400 MPa pressure power, 2-3 number of passes, and distilled water as solvent. Furthermore, the experimental extraction yields ranged from 4.4-5.7 mg of PE g-1 of dry biomass under the optimal extraction conditions (400 MPa; 2 passes), which agreed with the predictive yield of 4.6-5.5 mg g-1 DW. The ultrafiltration membrane used for the separation process for both methods exhibited a rejection of R-phycoerythrin concentrated at 30 KDa. Furthermore, R-phycoerythrin showed a positive correlation between the antioxidant capacity (ORAC) in the best-selected extractions. After the extraction, the same pattern was observed in Chlorophyll a and total carotenoids with DPPH. Thus, it was an attractive non-aggressive extraction alternative with biological activity of interest for formulating biotechnological products for the food industry is suggested.

Microwave-Assisted Extraction of Carrageenan from Sarcopeltis skottsbergii

“…The carbohydrate fraction is the most abundant but the protein content in S. skottsbergii accounted for around 10%, in the range (5.5–7.6%) reported for this species [ 29 , 30 ]; although, higher values are usually reported for other red seaweeds. This macroalga exhibits a remarkable content of the highly valuable R-phycoerythrin protein [ 30 ]. Total carbon content was higher than nitrogen and the C:N index was 18.4, slightly lower than 23.8, reported for these seaweeds [ 30 ].…”

“…This macroalga exhibits a remarkable content of the highly valuable R-phycoerythrin protein [ 30 ]. Total carbon content was higher than nitrogen and the C:N index was 18.4, slightly lower than 23.8, reported for these seaweeds [ 30 ]. Low lipid content, 0.2%, has been reported for this species [ 29 ].…”

“…Although it was not the objective, the protein extraction yield was around 1%. Castro-Varela et al (2022) [ 30 ], in a process for the valorization of the R-phycoerythrin fraction, after cell disruption with ultrasound-assisted extraction and high-pressure homogenization (100–400 MPa in 2–3 passes), obtained up to 5.5 mg/g, which could be further concentrated through ultrafiltration in 30 kDa membranes. The lowered N content in the extracts was also reported with other technologies, i.e., in water extracts assisted by ultrasound at 100 °C for 24 h [ 24 ].…”

Biopigments (Phycoerythrin, Fucoxanthin and Siphonaxanthin) from Seaweeds and Their Potential Applications as Ingredients in Cosmeceutical Industries: A Review

“…There are conventional and non-conventional methods for extracting biopigments (PE, FX, and SX) from seaweeds. Conventional techniques comprise maceration with buffer [46,71,82], water [20], DMSO-water [27], and organic solvents [35,39,75,[83][84][85], whereas non-conventional techniques include enzyme-assisted extraction (EAE) [21,56,86], ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) [49], combination of UAE and EAE [87], combination of high pressure-assisted extraction (HPAE) and UAE [72], combination of ME, UAE and HPAE [53], supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) [88], pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) [89], and microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) [90].…”

Phycoerythrin as a potential natural colourant: A mini review

“…High‐pressure homogenisation (HPH) and pressurised liquid extraction (PLE) use high pressure for cell disruption and have high extraction capacity, useful for large‐scale productions. R‐phycoerythrin from Red algae Sarcopeltis skottsbergi was optimised using HPH (Castro‐Varela et al ., 2022). Microwave‐assisted extraction (MAE) and ultrasound‐assisted extraction (UAE) have also been studied and optimised for the extraction of high‐value compounds.…”