EFFECT OF NUTRIENT LIMITATION ON FATTY ACID AND LIPID CONTENT OF MARINE MICROALGAE1

Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Chaetoceros sp. (Badllariophyceae), Isochrysis galbana (clone T-Iso) and Pavlova lutheri (Prymnesiophyceae), Nannochloris atomus (Chlorophyceae), Tetraselmis sp. (Prasinophyceae), and Gymnodinum sp. (Dinophyceae) were cultured at different extents of nutrient-limited growth: 50 and 5% of μmax. The lipid content of the algae was in the range 8.3–29.5% of dry matter and was generally higher in the Prymnesiophyceae than in the Prasinophyceae and the Chlorophyceae. Increasing extent of phosphorus limitation resulted in increased lipid content in the Bacillariophyceae and Prymnesiophyceae and decreased lipid content in the green flagellates N. atomus and Tetraselmis sp. The fatty acid composition of the algae showed taxonomic conformity, especially for the Bacillariophyceae, where the major fatty adds were 14:0, 16:0, 16:1, and 20:5n-3. These fatty acids were dominant also in the Prymnesiophyceae together with 22:6n-3. An exception was I. galbana, in which 18:1 was the major monounsaturated fatty add and 20:5n-3 was absent. The fatty acids of N. atomus and Tetraselmis sp. varied somewhat, but 16:0, 16:1, 18:1, 18:3n-3, and 20:5n-3 were most abundant. Gymnodinum sp. contained mainly 16:0, 18:4n-3, 20: 5n-3, and 22:6n-3. An increased level of nutrient limitation (probably phosphorus) resulted in a higher relative content of 16:0 and 18:1 and a lower relative content of 18:4n-3, 20:5n-3, and 22:6n-3. The nutrient limitation probably reduced the synthesis of n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids.