title: The freshwater alga Chroothece richteriana (Rhodophyta) as a potential source of lipids.
abstract: During an ecological study of Chroothece (Rhodophyta) in a small river in a semi-arid region of south-east Spain it became clear that most of these cells had a high lipid content. This suggested potential uses in biotechnology, which has been investigated further. The colonies, which occur in full sunlight, are typically orange-brown. Most, perhaps all, the yellow-orange colour is associated with their high carotenoid content, with the carotenoid to chlorophyll ratio up to 2.7. The polyunsaturated fatty acyl composition of the glycerides was 35.3% of the dry weight. This consisted mainly of omega-3 (5.9%) and omega-6 (29.4%) fats. The relatively high proportion of docosahexaenoyl (1.78%), eicosapentaenoyl (14.15%), arachidonoyl (0.92%) and γ-linolenoyl (0.78%) suggests use for medical and dietary purposes. All cells have a high phycocyanin content whilst phycoerythrin is absent. The alga has a wide distribution globally and hence provides scope for selecting strains with optimum properties.
authors.affiliation: Laboratorio de Algología, Departamento de Biología Vegetal, Facultad de Biología, Campus de Espinardo, E-30100 Murcia, Spain. Electronic address: maboal@um.es.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aboal
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Biología, Campus de Espinardo, E-30100 Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: Daniel
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: González-Silvera
authors.affiliation: Servei de Microscòpia, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Edifici C, Facultat de Ciències, 08193 Bellaterra, Spain; Departament de Productes Naturals, Biología Vegetal i Edafología, Universidad de Barcelona, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Mónica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Roldán
authors.affiliation: Departament de Productes Naturals, Biología Vegetal i Edafología, Universidad de Barcelona, E-08028 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Mariona
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hernández-Mariné
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Fisiología, Facultad de Biología, Campus de Espinardo, E-30100 Murcia, Spain.
authors.forename: José Ángel
authors.initials: JÁ
authors.lastname: López-Jiménez
authors.affiliation: School of Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, UK.
authors.forename: Brian A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: Whitton
mesh_terms: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D005618:Fresh Water; D008055:Lipids / Q000737:chemistry*; D000459:Phaeophyceae / Q000378:metabolism*; D000461:Rhodophyta / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D015525:Fatty Acids, Omega-3; D008055:Lipids
keywords: Chroothece; Lipid accumulation; Nitrogen/phosphorus ratio; Phycocyanin; Polyunsaturated fatty acids