Abstract
Freshwater psychrophilic algae are potential candidates for usage in outdoor bioreactors colder countries. Species live in extreme places like long lasting snowfields or glacier surfaces in alpine or polar regions. The photosynthetic performance and thus growth is optimised to temperatures below 20°C. An interesting aspect of extremophilic algae are specific metabolites. Due to the adaptation to their natural habitat, many of them accumulate certain compounds in high concentrations. For example, protective pigments like secondary carotenoids (e.g. astaxanthin) or polyphenolic compounds (e.g. gallic acid derivatives) can occur. Intracellular anti-freezing agents like sugar-alcohols (“compatible solutes) are usually present. Not least, the level of antioxidatives like alpha-tocopherol can be significantly raised. Up to date, the applied use of psychrophilic algae is still limited, however culture collections have more and more according species in stock, as isolation of new strains from wilderness is still going on.
Original language | English |
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Publication status | Published - 2015 |
Event | Algae Event 2015 - Wien, Austria Duration: 1 Jun 2015 → 4 Jun 2015 http://www.eubce.com/home.html |
Conference
Conference | Algae Event 2015 |
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Country/Territory | Austria |
City | Wien |
Period | 01.06.2015 → 04.06.2015 |
Internet address |
Keywords
- algae
- biomass
- ecology
- psychrophiles