The Potential of a Brown Microalga Cultivated in High Salt Medium for the Production of High-Value Compounds

Abstract

Amphora sp. was isolated from the Sfax Solar Saltern and cultivated under hypersaline conditions. It contains moderate rates of proteins, lipids, sugars, and minerals and a prominent content of bioactive compounds: polyphenols, chlorophyll a, carotenoids, and fatty acids. The analysis of fatty acids with GC/MS showed that the C16 series accounted for about 75% of Amphora sp. lipids. Saturated fatty acids whose palmitic acid was the most important (27.41%) represented 41.31%. Amphora sp. was found to be rich in monounsaturated fatty acids with dominance of palmitoleic acid. It also contains a significant percentage of polyunsaturated fatty acids with a high amount of eicosapentaenoic acid (2.36%). Among the various solvents used, ethanol at 80% extracted the highest amounts of phenols and flavonoids that were 38.27 mg gallic acid equivalent and 17.69 mg catechin equivalent g−1 of dried extract, respectively. Using various in vitro assays including DPPH and ABTS radicals methods, reducing power assay, and β-carotene bleaching assay, the 80% ethanolic extract showed high antioxidant activity. A strong antibacterial activity was checked against Gram-positive bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus and Micrococcus luteus) and Gram-negative bacteria (Klebsiella pneumoniae and Salmonella enterica). These results are in favor of Amphora sp. valorization in aquaculture and food and pharmaceutical industries.

Polysaccharides from Phormidium versicolor (NCC466) protecting HepG2 human hepatocellular carcinoma cells and rat liver tissues from cadmium toxicity: Evidence from in vitro and in vivo tests

“…Microalgae could be easily grown in a laboratory and used for large-scale cultivation in bioreactors with the ability to control the quality of the cultures by providing purified culture medium that is free of toxic substances. Therefore, microalgae provide a more accessible way to produce qualitative biomolecules of interest [9,10,12]. Among those biomolecules, polysaccharides are one of the best widespread free radical scavengers [12].…”

“…Recently, many natural antioxidants have been used in the treatment of various diseases. Indeed, marine microalgae are considered to possess several antioxidants due to numerous bioactive substances such as phenolic compounds and fatty acids [9], carotenoids and proteins [10], and polysaccharides [11].…”

Effect of biomass pre-treatment on supercritical CO2 extraction of lipids from marine diatom Amphora sp. and its biomass evaluation as bioethanol feedstock

“…studied earlier varied relatively such as 6.9% in Amphora coffeaformis [ 28 ], 11.14% in Amphora sp. of the Sfax Solar [ 29 ], and 23.4% in Amphora sp. isolated from Banting, Malaysia [ 30 ].…”

Cyanobacteria and Eukaryotic Microalgae as Emerging Sources of Antibacterial Peptides

“…These microorganisms colonize every known habitat, but are predominantly found in fresh and marine water. The number of microalgal species is not clearly established, AlgaeBase [ 97 ] encompasses 159,173 species that include terrestrial, marine and freshwater organisms, but also marine macroalgae (seaweeds) [ 96 , 98 , 99 , 100 , 101 ]. The major Phyla/class accounting for commercial microalgae are Chlorophyta, Rhodophyta, Haptophyta, Stramenopiles, and Dinophyta [ 102 ].…”