Morphology, nutritional composition and accumulation of astaxantin in Oedocladim cirratum

MARSILI, SN; PITTA-ALVAREZ, S.I.; REARTE T. A; CERON GARCIA, MC; VELEZ, C

Paraná, Entre Ríos

Encuentro; SAIB 54th Annual Meeting Argentine Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology; 2018

SAIB

Oedocladium cirratum Hoffman, is a terrestrial filamentous green alga belonging to the order Oedogoniales that, as an adaptation to face conditions of rapid desiccation of soils and exposure to high sunlight intensities, is able to form akinetes, i.e.: resting vegetative stages characterized by possessing thick cell walls and accumulating a large amounts of carotenoids. This communication presents its basic morphology and development, and constitute the first culturing approach to study its composition in pigments, proteins, lipids and starch in both, vegetative growing green cells and akinetes. Regarding pigments, a special attention was directed to carotenoids production and composition due to the intense reddish color of akinetes which, in chlorophycean green algae, could indicate the presence of astaxanthin, a keto-carotenoid with high market value.