Exploring Valuable Lipids in Diatoms

Abstract

Diatoms are one major group of algae in oceans that accounts almost half of marine primary food production and have also been identified as a promising candidate for biofuel production for their high level accumulation of lipids. They have gained increasingly attention for their potential applications in pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, nutrient supplements, and biofuels. This review aims to summarize the recent advances in diatom lipid study. Chemical structures and bioactivities of different lipid classes are discussed with a focus on valuable lipids such as fatty acids, polar lipids, steroids, and oxylipins from various diatoms species. Further, current extraction and fractionation approaches are compared and recent analytical techniques and methods are also reviewed with an emphasis on lipid class composition and fatty acid profiling. Biosynthetic pathways and key catalyzing enzymes are illustrated for a better understanding of fatty acid metabolism. Past engineering attempts toward generating appropriate diatom strains for lipid production are discussed with examples using mutagenesis, environmental stimulants, and genetic modification methods. Some possible future directions and applications of diatom-derived lipids are also proposed.

Assessment of Halamphora coffeaeformis Growth and Biochemical Composition for Aquaculture Purposes

“…In general, neutral lipids are the main lipid fraction found in diatoms [7,[21][22][23]. The production of TAG by H. coffeaeformis increased with the number of days in culture in the photobioreactor, and its value (in mg·L −1 ) was comparable to that reported for another diatom from Bahía Blanca Estuary grown under similar conditions [24].…”

“…In general, neutral lipids are the main lipid fraction found in diatoms [7,[21][22][23]. The production…”

A Review of Diatom Lipid Droplets

“…Although such lipids are usually in the form of triacylglycerol (TAG), the LD core in some organisms and cell types can consist, in part or entirely, of sterols, other steryl esters, wax esters, carotenoids or polyprenols [4,12,30,31]. Nevertheless, TAGs are the primary storage lipid in diatoms [32,33]. TAGs are an inert, stable, hydrophobic molecule consisting of three fatty acids esterified to a glycerol backbone.…”

Storage Compound Accumulation in Diatoms as Response to Elevated CO2 Concentration

“…Lipid production in microalgae has gained increasingly attention for their potential in industrial applications, including the production of third generation biofuels [5][6][7] and pharmaceutical and cosmetical products [8]. Lipid accumulation in some microalgae species can reach up to 73% of their dry weight and show higher productivities compared to crop plants [9,10].…”