Enhancement of cell growth and phycocyanin production in Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis by metabolic stress and nitrate fed-batch

Emmanuel Manirafasha; Theophile Murwanashyaka; Theoneste Ndikubwimana; Nur Rashid Ahmed; Jingyi Liu; Yinghua Lu; Xianhai Zeng; Xueping Ling; Keju Jing

doi:10.1016/j.biortech.2017.12.068

Enhancement of cell growth and phycocyanin production in Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis by metabolic stress and nitrate fed-batch

Bioresour Technol. 2018 May:255:293-301. doi: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.12.068. Epub 2017 Dec 23.

Authors

Emmanuel Manirafasha¹, Theophile Murwanashyaka², Theoneste Ndikubwimana³, Nur Rashid Ahmed², Jingyi Liu², Yinghua Lu⁴, Xianhai Zeng⁵, Xueping Ling², Keju Jing⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and the Key Lab for Synthetic Biotechnology of Xiamen City, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China; University of Rwanda-College of Education, P.O. Box 5039, Kigali, Rwanda.
² Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and the Key Lab for Synthetic Biotechnology of Xiamen City, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
³ Rwanda Education Board, P.O. Box 3817, Kigali, Rwanda.
⁴ Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and the Key Lab for Synthetic Biotechnology of Xiamen City, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. Electronic address: ylu@xmu.edu.cn.
⁵ College of Energy, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China.
⁶ Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering and the Key Lab for Synthetic Biotechnology of Xiamen City, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China. Electronic address: jkj@xmu.edu.cn.

PMID: 29422330
DOI: 10.1016/j.biortech.2017.12.068

Abstract

Arthrospira (Spirulina) platensis is known to have high-quality proteins content and phycocyanin as one of the major pigment constituents of the cells, and the most challenging problem associated with phycocyanin production in Arthrospira is to optimize its intracellular accumulation. The present study evaluated the metabolic stress conditions (by nutrient enrichment) of Arthrospira platensis FACHB-314 for boosting biomass growth and high content phycocyanin accumulation. Experimental results showed that 5 mM sodium glutamate and 7.5 mM succinic acid could enhance biomass yield as well as phycocyanin accumulation compared with that of the control groups. The present study demonstrates that the biomass growth and phycocyanin accumulation were significantly enhanced in fed-batch cultivation of Arthrospira platensis by applying the substrates as metabolic stress agents combined with nitrate feeding strategy. cobA/hemD, hemG and ho genes presented the over-expression level with adding sodium glutamate and succinic acid in cultures, respectively, compared to the control groups.

Keywords: Arthrospira platensis; Fed-batch cultivation; Metabolic stress; Phycocyanin; Sodium glutamate; Succinic acid.

MeSH terms

Biomass
Nitrates
Phycocyanin*
Spirulina*
Stress, Physiological

Substances

Nitrates
Phycocyanin