Morphophysiological analyses of Neochloris oleoabundans (Chlorophyta) grown mixotrophically in a carbon-rich waste product

Neochloris oleoabundans is considered one of the most promising oil-rich microalgae because of its ability to store lipids under nitrogen starvation. However, high biomass densities, required for applications on medium to large scale, are not reached in this condition of growth. As previous studies on other microalgae have shown that mixotrophy allows to obtain higher biomass in comparison to autotrophic cultures, we performed morphophysiological analyses in order to test the mixotrophic growth capability of N. oleoabundans. A carbon-rich manure derived from the apple vinegar production (AWP) was added to the medium. Cells were also cultivated under nutrient starvation (tap water), to observe the expected lipids accumulation, and combining AWP to water, to test the potential of this waste in a low-cost culture system. The results highlighted that AWP in the medium allowed to obtain the highest final cell density. Moreover, starch granules were stored inside chloroplast at the beginning of the experiment. The presence of AWP did not induce variations on light harvesting complex II (LHCII)–photosystem II (PSII) assembly, even if an interesting promotion of pigment synthesis in cells was observed. On the other hand, in starved cells, chloroplast degeneration, pigment content decrease, altered LHCII–PSII assembly and accumulation of high amount of lipid globules were observed, irrespective of the presence of AWP. The results suggest that mixotrophy promotes growth in N. oleoabundans and open up the possibility of using waste products from agri-food industries for this purpose. After growth, cells could be transferred under nutrient starvation to induce lipid accumulation.