Abstract
The effect of light intensity (50–300 μmol photons m−2 s−1) and temperature (15–50°C) on chlorophyll a, carotenoid and phycobiliprotein content in Arthronema africanum biomass was studied. Maximum growth rate was measured at 300 μmol photons m−2 s−1 and 36°C after 96 h of cultivation. The chlorophyll a content increased along with the increase in light intensity and temperature and reached 2.4% of dry weight at 150 μmol photons m−2 s−1 and 36°C, but it decreased at higher temperatures. The level of carotenoids did not change significantly under temperature changes at illumination of 50 and 100 μmol photons m−2 s−1. Carotenoids were about 1% of the dry weight at higher light intensities: 150 and 300 μmol photons m−2 s−1. Arthronema africanum contained C-phycocyanin and allophycocyanin but no phycoerythrin. The total phycobiliprotein content was extremely high, more than 30% of the dry algal biomass, thus the cyanobacterium could be deemed an alternative producer of C-phycocyanin. A highest total of phycobiliproteins was reached at light intensity of 150 μmol photons m−2 s−1 and temperature of 36°C, C-phycocyanin and allophycocyanin amounting, respectively, to 23% and 12% of the dry algal biomass. Extremely low (<15°C) and high temperatures (>47°C) decreased phycobiliprotein content regardless of light intensity.
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Acknowledgements
We thank projects “Progress in plant investigations for improvement of the sustainability of agriculture” (PISA) INI–14/05.09.2005 of Inst. Plant Physiol., financed by the Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria, also the Ministry of Education of the Czech Republic, project 1M 6798593901, and the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic AVO Z60050516 for their financial support, V. Pavlova and P. Babica for the cyanotoxins analysis, V. Titlová for her technical assistance, V. O. Cepák for his many valuable comments, and last, but not least, I.Šetlík for the sample.
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Chaneva, G., Furnadzhieva, S., Minkova, K. et al. Effect of light and temperature on the cyanobacterium Arthronema africanum - a prospective phycobiliprotein-producing strain. J Appl Phycol 19, 537–544 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-007-9167-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-007-9167-6