2019/11/05 by Jiaqi You, You, Jiaqi, Kevin Mallery +9
Energy · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Algal biology and biofuel production #Biological Physics (physics.bio-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #Micro and Nano Robotics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1911.01853
openalex publication_date 2019/11/05 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Microalgae have been shown as a potential bioresource for food, biofuel, and pharmaceutical products. During the growth phases with corresponding environmental conditions, microalgae accumulate different amounts of various metabolites. We quantified the lipid accumulation and analyzed swimming signatures (speed and trajectories) of the motile green alga, Dunaliella primolecta, during the lag-exponential-stationary growth cycle at different nutrient concentrations. We discovered significant changes in neutral lipid content and swimming signatures of microalgae across growth phases. The timing of the maximum swimming speed coincided with the maximum lipid content and both maxima occurred under nutrient stress at the stationary growth phase. Furthermore, the swimming trajectories of microalgae signal the growth phase and corresponding intracellular lipid accumulation. Our results provide the potential exploitation of microalgal swimming signatures as indicators for the cultivation conditions and the timing of microalgal harvest to maximize the lipid yield for biofuel production. The findings can also be implemented to explore the production of food and antibiotics from other microalgal metabolites with low energy cost.