Limited feeding of potassium nitrate for intracellular lipid and triglyceride accumulation of Nannochloris sp. UTEX LB1999

Abstract

Limited feeding of nitrate during culture of Nannochloris sp. UTEX LB1999 for intracellular lipid and triglyceride accumulation was investigated with the aim of obtaining cells superior for liquefaction into a fuel oil. The intracellular lipid contents and the percentage of triglycerides in the lipids of cells grown in a nitrogen-limited medium (0.9 mM KNO₃) were 1.3 times as high as those grown in a modified NORO medium containing 2.0–9.9 mM KNO₃. However, the cell concentration was too low for the practical production of fuel oil by high-pressure liquefaction of the cell mass. A single feeding of 0.9 mM nitrate after nitrate depletion during cultivation in a nitrate-limited medium increased the cell concentration to twice that obtained without such feeding, and the lipid content was maintained at a high level. The timing of nitrate feeding, i.e., whether it was given during the log phase (before nitrate depletion), the constant growth phase (just after the depletion), or the stationary phase (after the depletion), had negligible effect on the intracellular lipid content and percentage of triglycerides in the lipids. When 0.9 mM nitrate was intermittently fed ten times during the log phase in addition to the initial nitrate feed (0.9 mM), the cell concentration reached almost the same (2.16 g/l) and the intracellular lipid content and the percentage of triglycerides in the lipids increased from 31.0 to 50.9% and 26.0 to 47.6%, respectively, compared with those of cells cultured in a modified NORO medium containing 9.9 mM KNO₃ without additional nitrate feeding.