(38g) Effects of Algae Extract On the Growth and Metabolism of Various Microorganisms

The purpose of this project is to investigate the effectiveness of algae extract (ALE) as a nutrient source in cell culture media.  Algae have great potential in the production of biodiesel, and algae extract could be harvested as a component of biomass byproduct. This application is likely to make algae extract cheaper to produce than yeast extract – today’s most common nutrient source in microbiological media. The algae extract used in this project is made up of the water-soluble portions of autolysed Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells harvested from a small scale bioreactor. Percent composition of free amino acids, whole proteins, and carbohydrates were assessed and compared to yeast extract using Ninhydrin, Bradford, and Phenol-Sulfuric Acid assays, respectively. Metabolism assays of ethanol production in yeast, lipid production in algae, and protein production in bacteria were also performed using High Pressure Liquid Chromtography (HPLC), Bligh-Dyer lipid assay and Bradford protein assay, respectively.  Additionally, bacteria, yeast, and algae cultures were grown using algae and yeast extract and compared for saturation concentrations using optical densities. Algae extract has been proven to be comparable or superior to yeast extract in all tests.