title: New culture approaches for yessotoxin production from the dinoflagellate Protoceratium reticulatum.
abstract: Fed-batch and perfusion cultures were carried out in a traditional glass 2-L bioreactor with the toxic dinoflagellate Protoceratium reticulatum. The maximum cell concentration obtained was 2.3 x 105 cell.mL-1, which is almost 1 order of magnitude higher than the maximum previously referenced for this species. L1 medium was shown to be clearly deficient in nitrate and phosphate for this strain, and addition of highly concentrated aliquots of these nutrients allowed higher cell concentrations to be obtained. This species consumed high amounts of nitrate and phosphate, 2.1 x 10-3 and 2.3 x 10-4 micromol.h-1.cell-1, respectively. However, this consumption produced a very low number of cells compared to other classes of microalgae, indicating that this species is, like other dinoflagellates, a poor competitor in terms of utilization of inorganic nutrients. Higher production of toxins and pigments was strongly associated with cell number in the culture, with maximum values of 700 ng.mL-1 and 1321 microg.mL-1, respectively. Most yessotoxins remained within the cells and not in the cell-free culture medium, and their production was not related to either the age of the culture or the cell growth phase.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, University of Almería, 04120 Almería, Spain.
authors.forename: Juan José Gallardo
authors.initials: JJ
authors.lastname: Rodríguez
authors.forename: María Del Carmen Cerón
authors.initials: Mdel C
authors.lastname: García
authors.forename: Francisco García
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Camacho
authors.forename: Asterio Sanchez
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Mirón
authors.forename: El Hassan
authors.initials: el H
authors.lastname: Belarbi
authors.forename: Emilio Molina
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Grima
mesh_terms: D000164:Acremonium / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D019149:Bioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D018929:Cell Culture Techniques / Q000379:methods*; D049109:Cell Proliferation; D004141:Dinoflagellida / Q000502:physiology*; D004988:Ethers, Cyclic / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008978:Mollusk Venoms; D035964:Oxocins / Q000302:isolation & purification* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004988:Ethers, Cyclic; D008978:Mollusk Venoms; D035964:Oxocins; C066632:yessotoxin