Interaction between Microalgae and Light: Biotechnological Insights

A special issue of BioTech (ISSN 2673-6284). This special issue belongs to the section "Industrial Biotechnology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (23 February 2024) | Viewed by 4596

Special Issue Editor

Centre Européen de Biotechnologie et de Bioéconomie (CEBB), SFR Condorcet FR CNRS 3417, Laboratoire de Génie des Procédés et Matériaux, CentraleSupélec, Université Paris-Saclay, 3 rue des Rouges Terres, 51110 Pomacle, France
Interests: microalgae; biomass; secondary metabolites; photobioreactor; numerics

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Photosynthetic microalgae are biological factories capable of producing many molecules with advanced applications in the cosmetic and pharmaceutical sectors, as well as high-quality food for humans and animals. In addition to producing natural molecules, they provide ecosystem services, including water and atmospheric pollution control. Furthermore, their valorization as biofuel is possible through a biorefinery process pipeline. Finally, they do not compete with food crops because they can grow on non-arable land. For all these reasons, microalgae have emerged as promising candidates in combatting the current climate and energy challenges.

Still, scientific and technical obstacles must be overcome to allow microalgal biotechnological to reach its full potential. Among these, a better understanding and improved manipulation of the interaction between microalgae and light are paramount. This interaction is present over a wide range of space and time scales: at the molecular level within antennae, at the protein complex level within the photosystems, at the organelle level with the regulation at scale within the chloroplast, and the photobioreactor level with the intricacies of mutual shading and fluid motion.

This Special Issue will highlight and discuss recent advancements in those key research fields. We expect our discussion to contribute to the biotechnological use of the interaction between microalgae and light.

Therefore, I am pleased to invite you to submit a manuscript for this Special Issue. Research articles (resulting from experimental or numerical investigations), reviews, communications, and concept papers are all welcome.

Dr. Victor Pozzobon
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. BioTech is an international peer-reviewed open access quarterly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • microalgae
  • light
  • chloroplast
  • fluorimetry
  • non-photochemical quenching
  • pigments
  • production
  • numerical modeling
  • photobioreactor
  • flashing light effect

Published Papers (2 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

16 pages, 1241 KiB  
Article
Co-Producing Phycocyanin and Bioplastic in Arthrospira platensis Using Carbon-Rich Wastewater
by Hajar Shayesteh, Damian W. Laird, Leonie J. Hughes, Mohammad A. Nematollahi, Amin Mirshamsi Kakhki and Navid R. Moheimani
BioTech 2023, 12(3), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/biotech12030049 - 03 Jul 2023
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2152
Abstract
Microalgae can treat waste streams containing elevated levels of organic carbon and nitrogen. This process can be economically attractive if high value products are created simultaneously from the relatively low-cost waste stream. Co-production of two high value microalgal products, phycocyanin and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), [...] Read more.
Microalgae can treat waste streams containing elevated levels of organic carbon and nitrogen. This process can be economically attractive if high value products are created simultaneously from the relatively low-cost waste stream. Co-production of two high value microalgal products, phycocyanin and polyhydroxybutyrate (PHB), was investigated using non-axenic Arthrospira platensis MUR126 and supplemental organic carbon (acetate, oxalate, glycerol and combinations). All supplemented cultures had higher biomass yield (g/L) than photoautotrophic control. All cultures produced PHB (3.6–7.8% w/w), except the control and those fed oxalate. Supplemented cultures showed a two to three-fold increase in phycocyanin content over the eight-day cultivation. Results indicate co-production of phycocyanin and PHB is possible in A. platensis, using mixed-waste organic carbon. However, supplementation resulted in growth of extremophile bacteria, particularly in cultures fed glycerol, and this had a negative impact on culture health. Refinement of the carbon dosing rate is required to minimise impacts of native bacterial contamination. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interaction between Microalgae and Light: Biotechnological Insights)
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 1771 KiB  
Article
Mass Cultivation of Microalgae: II. A Large Species Pulsing Blue Light Concept
by Hans Chr. Eilertsen, Jo Strømholt, John-Steinar Bergum, Gunilla Kristina Eriksen and Richard Ingebrigtsen
BioTech 2023, 12(2), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/biotech12020040 - 17 May 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1916
Abstract
If mass cultivation of photoautotrophic microalgae is to gain momentum and find its place in the new “green future”, exceptional optimizations to reduce production costs must be implemented. Issues related to illumination should therefore constitute the main focus, since it is the availability [...] Read more.
If mass cultivation of photoautotrophic microalgae is to gain momentum and find its place in the new “green future”, exceptional optimizations to reduce production costs must be implemented. Issues related to illumination should therefore constitute the main focus, since it is the availability of photons in time and space that drives synthesis of biomass. Further, artificial illumination (e.g., LEDs) is needed to transport enough photons into dense algae cultures contained in large photobioreactors. In the present research project, we employed short-term O2 production and 7-day batch cultivation experiments to evaluate the potential to reduce illumination light energy by applying blue flashing light to cultures of large and small diatoms. Our results show that large diatom cells allow more light penetration for growth compared to smaller cells. PAR (400–700 nm) scans yielded twice as much biovolume-specific absorbance for small biovolume (avg. 7070 μm3) than for large biovolume (avg. 18,703 μm3) cells. The dry weight (DW) to biovolume ratio was 17% lower for large than small cells, resulting in a DW specific absorbance that was 1.75 times higher for small cells compared to large cells. Blue 100 Hz square flashing light yielded the same biovolume production as blue linear light in both the O2 production and batch experiments at the same maximum light intensities. We therefore suggest that, in the future, more focus should be placed on researching optical issues in photobioreactors, and that cell size and flashing blue light should be central in this. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Interaction between Microalgae and Light: Biotechnological Insights)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop