Production, Purification, and Study of the Amino Acid Composition of Microalgae Proteins

Abstract

Microalgae are known to be rich in protein. In this study, we aim to investigate methods of producing and purifying proteins of 98 microalgae including Chlorella vulgaris, Arthrospira platensis, Nostoc sp., Dunaliella salina, and Pleurochrysis carterae (Baltic Sea). Therefore, we studied their amino acid composition and developed a two-stage protein concentrate purification method from the microalgae biomass. After an additional stage of purification, the mass fraction of protein substances with a molecular weight greater than 50 kDa in the protein concentrate isolated from the biomass of the microalga Dunaliella salina increased by 2.58 times as compared with the mass fraction before filtration. In the protein concentrate isolated from the biomass of the microalga Pleurochrysis cartera, the relative content of the fraction with a molecular weight greater than 50.0 kDa reached 82.4%, which was 2.43 times higher than the relative content of the same fractions in the protein concentrate isolated from this culture before the two-stage purification. The possibilities of large-scale industrial production of microalgae biomass and an expanded range of uses determine the need to search for highly productive protein strains of microalgae and to optimize the conditions for isolating amino acids from them.

Algae: Study of Edible and Biologically Active Fractions, Their Properties and Applications

“…Filamentous cyanobacterium A. platensis (also known as S. platensis ) and various commercial species of the unicellular green alga C. vulgaris contain up to 70% dry protein. These microalgae and notably C. muelleri also have an amino acid profile comparable to that of eggs [ 48 , 49 ]. All essential amino acids were found in the consortium of C. vulgaris and S. obliquus microalgae [ 48 , 49 ].…”

“…These microalgae and notably C. muelleri also have an amino acid profile comparable to that of eggs [ 48 , 49 ]. All essential amino acids were found in the consortium of C. vulgaris and S. obliquus microalgae [ 48 , 49 ].…”

Influence of Carbohydrate Additives on the Growth Rate of Microalgae Biomass with an Increased Carbohydrate Content

“…Algae biomass contains different amounts of the most important organic compounds: carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids. Although carbohydrates have a lower energy value compared to other microalgae compounds, they are the best choice or primary raw material for the production of biofuels (such as bioethanol, biobutanol, and biohydrogen) through biotechnological conversion [ 10 , 11 , 12 ].…”

The Role of Photo-Cycles in the Modulation of Growth and Biochemical Profile of Microalgae: Part I—Food Interest Compounds

“…The results presented in Figure 2 show that for Scenedesmus obliquus , histidine is considered the first limiting amino acid, as it presented the lowest chemical score value when compared, for all photo-cycles. Histidine has been reported in other studies to be the limiting amino acid for Scenedesmus obliquus , Arthrospira platensis , and Botryococcus braunii [ 41 , 42 , 43 ]. In contrast, these microalgae proved to be a good source of tryptophan and threonine with scores of 1.68 and 1.10, for cycles of 2 t/d, 0.75:0.25, respectively.…”