Biotechnology Letters, Vol.42, No.12, 2631-2641, 2020
Augmenting the expression ofaccDandrbcL genesusing optimized iron concentration to achieve higher biomass and biodiesel inChlorella vulgaris
Chlorella vulgarisis a form of microalgae commonly employed as a biological source of oil for biodiesel production. Major algal cultivation strategies are focused on stimulating growth rate and lipid content. In the present study, the algal growth media was supplemented with iron (III) chloride (FeCl3), as a stimulating factor for growth and lipid production, in three iron concentrations including 90, 200, and 500 mu M. The turbidity of algal cells was measured on different days, to determine the growth rate. In optimum iron concentration, this measurement experienced a 2.1-fold increase. Next, the lipid content was extracted, and the amount of lipid produced in each treatment was calculated, which demonstrated a 4.57-fold increase in lipid productivity. The expression of genes corresponding to the metabolic enzymes (i.e. acetyl-CoA carboxylase (accD) and ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase large chain (rbcL)) was evaluated using real-time PCR under different initial iron feeds. As demonstrated in the results, the initial iron feed of 90 mu M was an optimum concentration that obtained the highest growth rate, more cell density, and increased lipid production. In 90 mu M initial iron concentration, the expression ofaccDandrbcLgenes showed a 4.8- and 35-fold increase, respectively, compared to that of the control genes. Based on the results, this optimum iron concentration could satisfy the industrial interest in biodiesel production fromC. vulgarisas a potential stimulating factor. However, higher levels of iron (e.g. 200 and 500 mu M) failed to act as positive stress for increasing biodiesel production. Finally, in this paper, different mechanisms where iron affects acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase) and 1,5-ribulose bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RuBisCo) are illustrated.