title: Influence of carbon-dioxide on the growth of Spirulina sp. (MCRC-A0003) isolated from Muttukadu backwaters, South India.
abstract: Growth of Spirulina sp. (MCRC-A0003), a cyanobacterium, was evaluated under different concentrations of carbon-dioxide (CO2) (4-50 %) in a closed glass photobioreactor. Although significant CO2 utilization by the cyanobacterial strain was observed up to 50 % concentration, complete utilization was observed only at 4, 10 and 20 % concentrations on 3rd, 6th and 8th day respectively. However, considerable reduction was witnessed in reactors containing 30-50 % CO2 only between 6th and 9th day. A corresponding increase in the biomass and primary metabolites like chlorophyll-a, carbohydrate and protein were observed. Biomass productivity of Spirulina in reactors sparged with 4, 10 and 20 % CO2 were 13.7, 43 and 44 % more than that in control reactor without CO2. While CO2 increased the levels of primary metabolites in the cyanobacterial cells, it was quite prominent in 10 % CO2 concentration with the chlorophyll-a, carbohydrate and protein contents were 64, 183 and 626 mg g(-1) respectively. While 10 and 6.6 % increase were noticed in chlorophyll-a and protein, 17 % increase in carbohydrate levels was observed in Spirulina cells, which could be attributed to the conversion of CO2 to carbohydrate by the cyanobacterium.
authors.affiliation: Shri AMM Murugappa Chettiar Research Centre (MCRC), Taramani, Chennai, 600 113, India.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sivakumar
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ranjith Kumar
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Shashirekha
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Seshadri
mesh_terms: D001481:Basal Metabolism; D018533:Biomass; D002245:Carbon Dioxide / Q000378:metabolism*; D007194:India; D058433:Photobioreactors / Q000382:microbiology*; D053545:Spirulina / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification; D014871:Water Microbiology
chemical_list: D002245:Carbon Dioxide