Stress factors’ effects on the induction of lipid synthesis of microalgae

Abstract

This article investigates the induction of lipid synthesis in unicellular green algae Scenedesmus quadricauda UT4, Scenedesmus armatus UT39, Ankistrodesmus falcatus UT20, and Chlorococcum macrostigmatum UT4 under the influence of various stress factors, such as nitrogen starvation, salt, and pH. In this study, the accumulation of neutral lipids of microalgae lasted up to 40 hours under incubation without a nitrogen medium, and they accounted for 39.8%–54.2% of the total dry mass of microalgae. In the presence of 400 and 600 mM NaCl, the highest lipid accumulation of C. macrostigmatum UT4 was 55.5%–65.3%, and using pH 4.0 caused the highest accumulation of microalgae lipids (30.6%–63.7%) that was observed at 18 hours of incubation. From the data obtained, we can conclude that C. macrostigmatum UT4 under study is a potential producer of lipids.