title: Metabolic responses of eukaryotic microalgae to environmental stress limit the ability of FT-IR spectroscopy for species identification.
abstract: Fourier Transform Infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy is a robust method for macromolecular analysis and differentiation of microorganisms. However, most studies are performed in controlled conditions and it is unclear whether this tool is appropriate for the identification of eukaryotic microalgae species from variable environments. In order to address this, nine closely-related species of marine and freshwater microalgae were grown under controlled (non-stressed) and variable (non-stressed and stressed) conditions, including nutrient-stressed and wastewater-stressed conditions. Following optimization of data processing methods, FT-IR spectra from all species and conditions were compared. The substantial metabolic changes that were caused by nutrient starvation restricted the ability of FT-IR spectroscopy to differentiate the microalgal species grown under variable conditions efficiently. Comparison of unsupervised and supervised multivariate data analysis methods found that principal component-discriminant function analysis was able best to differentiate between some species under controlled conditions but still gave poor differentiation under variable environmental conditions.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Thomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Driver
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Amit K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Bajhaiya
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, The University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK; Environmental & Biochemical Sciences Group, The James Hutton Institute, Invergowrie, Dundee, DD2 5DA Scotland, UK.
authors.forename: J William
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Allwood
authors.affiliation: School of Chemistry, Manchester Institute of Biotechnology, The University of Manchester, 131 Princess Street, Manchester M1 7DN, UK.
authors.forename: Royston
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Goodacre
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK.
authors.forename: Jon K
authors.initials: JK
authors.lastname: Pittman
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Life Sciences, The University of Manchester, Michael Smith Building, Oxford Road, Manchester M13 9PT, UK; Department of Geography, University of Sheffield, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Dean
keywords: FT-IR spectroscopy; Microalgae; Nutrient limitation; Species discrimination
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