• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.2
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• pp.22-29
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• 2017

A unicellular green alga was axenically isolated from the Port of Jeongja, Ulsan, Korea. Morphological, molecular, and biochemical analyses revealed that the isolate belonged to Heterochlorella luteoviridis. This is the first report of this species in Korea. The microalgal strain was named as H. luteoviridis MM0014 and its growth, lipid composition, and biomass properties were investigated. The strain thrived over a wide range of temperatures ($5-30^{\circ}C$) and withstood up to 0.5 M NaCl. The results of gas chromatography/mass spectrometry analysis showed that the isolate was rich in nutritionally important polyunsaturated fatty acids. Its major fatty acids were linoleic acid (35.6%) and ${\alpha}$-linolenic acid (16.2%). Thus, this indigenous marine microalga is a potential alternative source of ${\omega}3$ and ${\omega}6$ polyunsaturated fatty acids, which are currently obtained from fish and plant oils. Ultimate analysis indicated that the gross calorific value was $19.7MJ\;kg^{-1}$. In addition, the biomass may serve as an excellent animal feed because of its high protein content (51.5%). Therefore, H. luteoviridis MM0014 shows promise for applications in the production of microalgae-based biochemicals and biomass feedstock.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.770-775
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• 2014

The green microalga of the genus Nannochloropsis (class Eustigmatophyceae) is a leading candidate for biofuel production due to its ability to accumulate high oil content (28.7% of cellular ash-free dry weight). We investigated the anti-inflammatory and anticancer activities of sterol-rich fraction from nannochloropsis oculata n-hexane (NOH) extract after saponification of the microalga. Among the fractions with n-hexane, chloroform and ethyl acetate, the n-hexane fraction showed the highest anti-inflammatory activity in LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 macrophage as well as anticancer activity against human leukemia HL-60 cells without the cytotoxity. And the sterol-rich fraction was obtained from the n-hexane fraction by open silica column under the gradient solvent condition with 100% hexane (1L), hexane : ethyl acetate (20 : 1, 10 : 1, 5 : 1, 1 : 1, v/v). Among the four fractions (NOH-1~4), especially NOH-1 contained the highest content of sterols. NOH1 showed the highest HL-60 (about 85%) and NO inhibitory activities at the concentration of $100{\mu}g/mL$. These results demonstrated that the sterol-rich fraction from N. oculata might be a useful candidate as anti-inflammatory and anticancer agents for anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity.

• Environmental Engineering Research
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• v.19 no.3
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• pp.283-287
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• 2014

Cultivation of microalgae using wastewater exhibits several advantages such as nutrient removal and the production of high valuable products such as lipid and pigments. With this study, two types of wastewater from instant noodle factory; mixed liquor suspended solids (MLSS) and effluents after sedimentation tank were investigated for green microalga Scenedesmus sp. cultivation under laboratory condition. Optimal wastewater dilution percentage was evaluated in 24 wells microplate. MLSS and effluent without dilution showed the highest specific growth rate (${\mu}$) of $1.63{\pm}0.11day^{-1}$ and $1.57{\pm}0.16day^{-1}$, respectively, in which they were significantly (p < 0.05) higher than Scenedesmus sp. grown in BG11 medium ($1.08{\pm}0.14day^{-1}$). Ten days experiment was also conducted using 2000 ml Duran bottle as culture vessel under continuous light at approximately 5000 lux intensity and continuous aeration. It was found that maximum biomass density of microalgae cultivated in MLSS and effluent were $344.16{\pm}105.60mg/L$ and $512.89{\pm}86.93mg/L$ respectively and there was no significant (p < 0.05) difference on growth to control (BG11 medium). Moreover, cultivation microalgae in wastewater could reduce COD in wastewater by 39.89%-73.37%. Therefore, cultivation of Scenedesmus sp. in wastewater from instant noodle factory can yield microalgae biomass production and wastewater reclamation using photobioreactor simultaneously.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.14 no.5
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• pp.932-937
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• 2004

In situ extraction by organic solvent was studied in order to improve the recovery yield of hydrocarbon from the culture of Botryococcus braunii, a green colonial microalga. When the solvent mixture of octanol as an extractive solvent and n-octane as a biocompatible solvent was added to a two-phase column, the algal growth was seriously inhibited, even at a low concentration of polar octanol. Therefore, a two-stage cell-recycle extraction process was proposed to improve the contact area between the organic phase and the aqueous phase. The hydrocarbon recovery with in situ cell-recycle extraction showed a three-fold increase (57% of cell) in yield over that with two-phase extraction. In addition, over 60% of the hydrocarbon could be recovered without serious cell damage by downstream separation when this process was applied to the culture broth after batch fermentation.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.68-75
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• 2014

This study investigated the potential use of various organic carbon sources (glucose, glycerol and acetate) and different concentrations of $CO_2$ for culturing marine microalga Dunaliella tertiolecta. Cell growth and lipid production were monitored under heterotrophic, mixotrophic and photoautotrophic modes of cultivation. D. tertiolecta showed the ability to grow under mixotrophic (acetate and glucose), heterotrophic (glucose) and photoautotrophic condition under high $CO_2$ concentration (15%). With all the organic carbon sources (glucose, glycerol and acetate) tested in this study, 1~5% acetate enhanced cell growth rate and lipid content, while higher concentrations of acetate (10% and 15%) were inhibitory and resulted in cell death.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.26 no.6
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• pp.1098-1102
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• 2016

A green microalga, Tetraselmis sp., was cultivated in the coastal seawater of Young-Heung Island using semi-permeable membrane photobioreactors (SPM-PBRs) in different seasons. The microalgae in the SPM-PBRs were able to grow on nutrients diffused into the PBRs from the surrounding seawater through SPMs. The biomass productivity varied depending on the ion permeabilities of the SPMs and environmental conditions, whereas the quality and quantity of fatty acids were constant. The temperature of seawater had a greater influence than solar radiation did on productivity of Tetraselmis sp. in SPM-PBRs. SPM-PBRs could provide technologies for concurrent algal biomass and fatty acids production, and eutrophication reduction in the ocean.

• Microbiology and Biotechnology Letters
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• v.44 no.3
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• pp.400-407
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• 2016

A unicellular green alga, Chlorella vulgaris KNUA027, was isolated from the roots of Panax ginseng seedlings and its biotechnological potential was investigated. The results of GC/MS analysis showed that C. vulgaris KNUA027 was rich in nutritionally important polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) such as alpha-linolenic acid (C_18:3 ω3, 45.8%, 50.8 mg/g) and hexadecatrienoic acid (C_16:3 ω3, 11.8%, 13.1 mg/g). Therefore, this Korean indigenous microalga may have potential as a source of omega-3 PUFAs. It was also found that the saturated palmitic acid (C_16:0, 37.1%, 41.2 mg/g), which is suitable for biodiesel production, was one of the major fatty acids produced by strain KNUA027. The proximate analysis showed that the volatile matter content was 88.5%, and the ultimate analysis indicated that the higher heating value was 19.8 MJ/kg. Therefore, the results from this research with C. vulgaris KNUA027 may provide the basis for the production of microalgae-based biofuels and biomass feedstock.

• KSBB Journal
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.97-102
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• 2012

In the present study, the biomass productivity of two green microalgae (Chlorella sp. and Dunaliella salina DCCBC2) were assessed in a 12 L tubular photobioreactor under optimum culture conditions. In the batch culture optimization process, the Chlorella sp. biomass was obtained as 1.2 g/L under atmospheric air as a sole $CO_2$ source and other culture conditions as follows: light intensity, temperature, pH, $NH_4Cl$ and $K_2HPO_4$ were 100 ${\mu}E/m^2/s$, $27^{\circ}C$, 7.0, 20.0 mM and 2.0 mM, respectively. On the other hand, 2.9 g/L of D. salina DCCBC2 biomass production was observed under the following conditions: light intensity, temperature, pH, $KNO_3$ and $K_2HPO_4$were 80 ${\mu}E/m^2/s$, $27^{\circ}C$, 8.0, 3.0 mM and 0.025 mM, respectively. At 1% $CO_2$ supply to the reactor, the Chlorella sp. production was reached 1.53 g/L with 25% increment under the same operating conditions. In addition, the maximum D. salina DCCBC2 biomass was observed as 3.40 g/L at 3% $CO_2$ concentration. Based on the aforementioned optimized conditions, the dilution rate and maximal biomass productivity of Chlorella sp. and D. salina DCCBC2 in the continuous cultivation were 0.4/d and 0.6 g/L/d and 0.6/d and 1.5 g/L/d, respectively.

• Korean Journal of Ecology and Environment
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• v.49 no.4
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• pp.320-333
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• 2016

This study was carried out to elucidate the development of unprecedented water-bloom caused by a single species of colonial green algae Eudorina elegans in the upstream area of the Seungchon weir located in the Yeongsan River from late April to May 2013. The Yeongsan River is typically regulated system and the waterbody is seriously enriched by both external and internal sources of nutrients. Seasonal algal outbreaks were highly probable due to various potential factors, such as the excessive nutrients contained in treated wastewater, slow current, high irradiation and temperature, in diatom (winter), green algae (spring) and bluegreen algae (summer). Spring green-tide was attributed to E. elegans with level up to $1,000mg\;m^{-3}$(>$50{\times}10^4cells\;mL^{-1}$). The bloom was exploded in the initial period of the algal development and after then gradually diminished with transporting to the downstream by the intermittent rainfall, resulting in rapid expansion of the distribution range. Although the pulsed-flows by the weir manipulation was applied to control algal bloom, they were not the countermeasures to solve the underlying problem, but rather there still was a remaining problem related to the impact of pulsed-flows on the downstream. The green-tide of E. elegans in this particular region of the Yeongsan River revealed the blooming characteristics of a colonial motile microalga, and fate of vanishing away by the succeeding episodic events of mesoscale rainfall. We believe that the results of the present study contribute to limno-ecological understanding of the green-tide caused by blue-green algae in the four major rivers, Korea.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.683-689
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• 2014

Since $CO_2$ concentrations in industrial flue gases are usually 10%-20%, one of the prerequisites for efficient $CO_2$ removal by algae is the level of tolerance of microalgal species to exposure to high concentrations of $CO_2$. A newly isolated microalgal strain, Chlorella sp. MRA-1, could retain growth with high concentrations of $CO_2$ up to 15%. The highest lipid productivity for Chlorella sp. MRA-1 was 0.118 g/l/day with a 5% $CO_2$ concentration. Octadecenoic acid and hexadecanoic acid, the main components of biodiesel, accounted for 70% of the total fatty acids. A lipid content of 52% of dry cell weight was achieved with limited amounts of nitrogen. Chlorella sp. MRA-1 seems to be an ideal candidate for biodiesel production when cultured with high concentrations of $CO_2$.