Effect of glucose and sodium nitrate on the cultivation of Nostoc sp. PCC 7423 and production of phycobiliproteins

Abstract

This study aimed to investigate the influence of glucose, sodium nitrate and initial inoculum ratio in order to obtain cell biomass and phycobiliproteins from the Nostoc sp. PCC 7423. The optimum supplementation condition corresponded to the simultaneous addition of glucose 2 g•L −1 and sodium nitrate 5 mM, capable of increasing the concentration of biomass by about threefold (reaching 0.54 g•L −1 ) and the PC concentration by 2.3-fold (reaching 133.03 mg•g −1 ), compared to the basal medium BG11 0 (control). The results showed no significant difference with respect of the effect of inoculum ratios, 10% or 20% (p < 0.05), on the phycocyanin production. The condition of simultaneous supplementation of carbon and nitrogen sources is still little studied and the current study indicated that it enabled better results than isolated supplements of glucose and sodium nitrate, which may justify its application to obtain phycobiliproteins.