Fungal Contamination in Microalgal Cultivation: Biological and Biotechnological Aspects of Fungi-Microalgae Interaction

Abstract

In the last few decades, the increasing interest in microalgae as sources of new biomolecules and environmental remediators stimulated scientists’ investigations and industrial applications. Nowadays, microalgae are exploited in different fields such as cosmeceuticals, nutraceuticals and as human and animal food supplements. Microalgae can be grown using various cultivation systems depending on their final application. One of the main problems in microalgae cultivations is the possible presence of biological contaminants. Fungi, among the main contaminants in microalgal cultures, are able to influence the production and quality of biomass significantly. Here, we describe fungal contamination considering both shortcomings and benefits of fungi-microalgae interactions, highlighting the biological aspects of this interaction and the possible biotechnological applications.

Exploring The Potential of Microalgae-Fungi Co-Cultivation for Sustainable Bioprocessing in Microalgae Biorefinery

“…However, to be considered for harvesting, the fungi should not be environmentally harmful and safe for downstream applications, such as feeds (Ummalyma et al, 2017). Interestingly, the co-existence of fungi with microalgae protects cultures from external microbial contaminations (Laezza et al, 2022). Similarly, it was reported that the presence of fungi in microalgae biomass did not change its bio-oil or carbon, hydrogen, or nitrogen contents and overall biomass composition (Li et al, 2017).…”

Biological and metabolic effects of the association between the microalga Galdieria sulphuraria and the fungus Penicillium citrinum

“…Microalgae cultures can be affected by, inter alia, several species of fungi, some of which have not yet been fully identified 16 , 17 . Fungi usually grow at temperatures between 0 and 30 °C, but there are various species that can grow at temperatures close to 50 °C, or below 10 °C.…”

“…Obviously, the presence of organic substrates facilitates the proliferation of microbial communities (e.g., fungi, bacteria, viruses, and others) in the medium because these microbes generally grow faster than microalgae 15 . For some specific algae production purposes such as pharmaceuticals, cosmetics or food, the algal biomass cannot be contaminated.Microalgae cultures can be affected by, inter alia, several species of fungi, some of which have not yet been fully identified 16,17 . Fungi usually grow at temperatures between 0 and 30 °C, but there are various species that can grow at temperatures close to 50 °C, or below 10 °C.…”