title: The effect of salinity on the growth and carotenogenesis in two Chilean strains of Dunaliella salina Teodoresco.
abstract: We studied the effect of salt concentration on the growth and carotenogenesis in two Chilean strains of Dunaliella salina, CONC-006 and CONC-007, cultivated in two media of different chemical composition J/l and PES, under controlled laboratory conditions. Growth rates, k (div day-1), intrinsic production rates of total carotenoids per unit time rcar (day-1), maximum levels of total carotenoids, K (mg l-1), and maximum production of total carotenoids per unit time, rK/4 (micrograms l-1 day-1) were estimated from growth and carotenogenesis data. The highest maximum productivity of total carotenoids was 978 micrograms l-1 day-1 obtained in CONC-007 at 25% NaCl, and the lowest 15 micrograms l-1 day-1, in CONC-006 at 30% NaCl, both growing in PES medium. CONC-007 showed the highest growth rates, 0.76 and 0.65 div day-1, at the lowest salt concentration (5%) in PES and J/1, respectively. On the contrary, the strain CONC-006 exhibited a different growth pattern in both media. Its maximum growth rate in J/1 was 0.37 div day-1 at 20% NaCl, and in PES, 0.53 div day-1 at 5% NaCl. According to these results, the best integration of growth and carotenogenesis in CONC-007 was obtained at 15% NaCl in J/1 from 10 to 25% NaCl in PES and in CONC-006, from 5 to 20% NaCl in J/1 and from 5 to 10% NaCl in PES.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Botánica, Facultad de Ciencias Naturales y Oceanográficas, Universidad de Concepción, Chile.
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Cifuentes
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Gonzalez
authors.forename: O O
authors.initials: OO
authors.lastname: Parra
mesh_terms: D002338:Carotenoids / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000502:physiology*; D002677:Chile; D056890:Eukaryota / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D012492:Salts
chemical_list: D012492:Salts; D002338:Carotenoids