abstract
Chlorococcum amblystomatis is a novel microalga with a high content of omega-3 fatty acids (FAs), with applications for food, feed, nutraceuticals, and biotechnology. These applications require the use of food-grade green solvents such as ethanol (EtOH) for lipid extraction, which can be associated with lower lipid recovery yields if not assisted with mechanical means. Ultrasonication can increase the recovery of lipids and omega-3 FAs, however, the impact on polar lipids remains poorly understood. In this study, we propose a comparative lipidomic analysis through liquid-chromatography mass spectrometry (LC-MS) of extracts obtained with EtOH combined with ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and conventional extraction with dichloromethane:methanol (DCM) or EtOH. Extraction with UAE improved the recovery yield of EtOH alone from 2.3 +/- 0.3 to 14.6 +/- 0.6%, which is comparable to lipid recovery from DCM (16.7 +/- 0.8%). The fatty acid profile of UAE extracts showed no differences in comparison with DCM. Lipidomic LC-MS/MS analysis showed that UAE allowed lipid extracts rich in polar lipids containing omega-3 PUFAs with lipid yield and lipid profile similar to DCM to be obtained. Taken together these results demonstrate the effectiveness of UAE in obtaining extracts rich in omega-3 glycolipids and phospholipids from C. amblystomatis for different biotechnological applications.
keywords
MICROALGAL BIOMASS; BALANCE; DISEASE; ALGAE; ACID
subject category
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology; Marine & Freshwater Biology
authors
Conde, T; Couto, D; Melo, T; Moreira, ASP; Ferreira, P; Costa, M; Silva, J; Neves, B; Domingues, P; Domingues, MR
our authors
Ana Sofia Pereira Moreira
Junior Researcher
Paula Celeste da Silva Ferreira
Coordinating ResearcherGroups
G2 - Photonic, Electronic and Magnetic Materials
G4 - Renewable Materials and Circular Economy
acknowledgements
This work has received funding under the project AlgaValor, from the Portugal 2020 program (grant agreement no POCI-01-0247-FEDER-035234; LISBOA-01-0247-FEDER-035234; ALG-01-0247-FEDER-035234).