Almalki, W.J. orcid.org/0000-0002-6455-8746, Nwokeoji, A.O. and Vaidyanathan, S. orcid.org/0000-0003-4137-1230 (2024) Density and composition of cohabiting bacteria in Chlorella vulgaris CCAP 211/21A is influenced by changes in nutrient supply. SynBio, 2 (2). pp. 190-204. ISSN 2674-0583
Abstract
Microalgae have considerable potential as a renewable feedstock for biochemical and bioethanol production that can be employed in processes associated with carbon capture. Large-scale microalgae cultivations are often non-axenic and are often cohabited by bacteria. A better understanding of the influence of cohabiting bacteria on microalgae productivity is required to develop sustainable synthetic co-culture processes at scale. Nutrient limitation is a frequently employed strategy in algal cultivations to accumulate energy reserves, such as lipids and carbohydrates. Here, a non-axenic culture of an estuarine green microalga, Chlorella vulgaris CCAP 211/21A, was studied under nutrient replete and deplete conditions to assess how changes in nutrient supply influenced the cohabiting bacterial population and its association with intracellular carbohydrate accumulations in the alga. Nutrient limitation resulted in a maximum carbohydrate yield of 47%, which was 74% higher than that in nutrient replete conditions. However, the latter condition elicited a 2-fold higher carbohydrate productivity. Three cohabiting bacterial isolates were cultivable from the three culture conditions tested. These isolates were identified using the 16S rRNA gene sequence to belong to Halomonas sp. and Muricauda sp. The composition of the bacterial population varied significantly between the growth conditions and time points. In all cases and at all time points, the dominant species was Halomonas isolates. Nutrient depletion resulted in an apparent loss of Muricauda sp. This finding demonstrates that nutrient supply can be used to control cohabiting bacterial populations in algal cultures, which will enable the development of synthetic co-culture strategies for improving algae productivity.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2024 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
Keywords: | co-cultures; renewable feedstock; carbohydrate content; nutrients limitation; consortia |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Engineering (Sheffield) > Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 17 Jun 2024 14:28 |
Last Modified: | 17 Jun 2024 14:28 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | MDPI AG |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.3390/synbio2020011 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:213348 |