Effect of Light Intensity and Nitrate Concentration on Astaxanthin Accumulating in Haematococcus pluvialis Cells

초록

Haematococcus pluvialis is widely studied as one of the best sources of astaxanthin (3,3'-dihydroxy-b,b'-carotene-dione), which has potential effects of cancer prevention, enhancer of immune response, and a free radial quencher. In this study, an inducing method for massive production of astaxanthin was investigated in photoautotrophic batch cultivation. Our previous work indicated that the amount of astaxanthin accumulation in the cells can be enhanced by excessive irradiance and nitrate starvation rather than the other factors such as phosphate deficiency, acetate supplementation, salt stress, elevated temperature, etc. Thus the two induction factors were introduced to cultures of Haematococcus pluvialis in bubble column photobioreactors (400 mL working vol.).