Influence of different light wavelengths and carbon sources on energy utilization efficiency by Chromochloris zofingiensis for cell growth and carotenoid synthesis

Chromochloris zofingiensis was cultured with different carbon sources (carbonate/glucose/acetate/pyruvate) and light conditions (dark/blue/red) under heterotrophic, autotrophic, and mixotrophic conditions to evaluate its energy utilization efficiency in terms of biomass and carotenoid accumulation. Enhanced specific growth rates of 0.58 d⁻¹ and 0.51 d⁻¹ were observed under blue- and red-light mixotrophic conditions, respectively, which both exceeded the rate of 0.44 d⁻¹ obtained under heterotrophic conditions using a glucose-supplemented medium. The glucose medium showed superior cell synthesis compared to other carbon sources owing to its high utilization. Astaxanthin and neoxanthin accumulation were enhanced under mixotrophic conditions with blue-light. The energy efficiency for the synthesis of new cells was evaluated from a thermodynamic perspective. The efficiency was 1.1 to 2.1 % under autotrophic conditions, while 5.2 to 100 % was observed under heterotrophic conditions. Efficiencies in between were observed under mixotrophic conditions.