• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.50 no.1
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• pp.32-40
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• 2017

The aim of this study was to evaluate a temperature-induced two-stage cultivation (TTC) strategy for the regulation of lipid and carbohydrate production by two microalgae, Chlorella vulgaris and Dunaliella salina, for biofuel production. The microalgae were grown under several temperature conditions (15, 25, 35, and $45^{\circ}C$) and optimal growth was observed at $25^{\circ}C$ for both microalgae. To test the TTC, aseptically cultured microalgae were incubated under optimal conditions ($25^{\circ}C$) for 20 days, and then divided into four aliquots that were incubated at 15, 25, 35, and $45^{\circ}C$ for 5 days. Similar but somewhat decreased growth rates were observed at the non-optimal temperatures (15, 35, and $45^{\circ}C$). In addition, while total lipid accumulation increased in a temperature-dependent manner in both microalgae, total carbohydrate increased with temperature in C. vulgaris but decreased in D. salina. However, for lipid and carbohydrate production, while the highest lipid productions of C. vulgaris and D. salina were observed at $25^{\circ}C$ and $35^{\circ}C$, respectively, the highest total carbohydrate productions of C. vulgaris and D. salina were obtained at $15^{\circ}C$ and $25^{\circ}C$, respectively. These results suggest that the TTC strategy may be easily and efficiently applied to bioprocessing for biofuel production.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.8 no.2
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• pp.45-53
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• 2016

Most of microalgae shift their metabolic pathways toward the fatty acid biosynthesis following nitrogen deprivation. Recent studies on Nannochloropsis species, oleaginous microalgae, have been performed to investigate the regulation of contents and compositions of fatty acids under stressful condition. The objective of this experiment is to identify the effect of nitrogen on cell growth and fatty acids production in Nannochloropsis oculata K-1281 and compare fatty acid composition response to nitrogen deficiency between N. oculata LB2164 and K-1281. The fatty acids content in N. oculata K-1281 was increased up to 210%, while the growth rate was decreased under nitrogen deficient condition. The contents of C16:0 and C16:1 increased dramatically in both N. oculata K-1281 and LB2164, while the contents of C20:4 and C20:5 increased in N. oculata LB2164. The fatty acids content and composition in N. oculata K-1281 returned following addition of nitrogen after nitrogen starvation. These results demonstrated that fatty acid contents and compositions under nitrogen deficiency will provide the understanding of fatty acid synthesis in microalgae.

• ALGAE
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• v.24 no.3
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• pp.169-177
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• 2009

In this study, we focused on natural water-soluble antioxidants from fresh water microalgae, Pediastrum duplex and Dactylococcopsis fascicularis from Jeju Island, Korea. They were prepared by enzymatic digestion using five carbohydrases (Viscozyme, Celluclast, AMG, Termamyl and Ultraflo) and five proteases (Protamex, Kojizyme, Neutrase, Flavourzyme and Alcalase), and the potential antioxidant activity of each was assessed. All enzymatic digests from P. duplex showed significant DPPH scavenging effects. Termamyl (60.6%) digest from P. duplex possessed the highest effects on hydrogen peroxide scavenging. Celluclast (58.1%) and Kojizyme digests (56.9%) from D. fascicularis possessed higher effects on superoxide anion radical scavenging. All enzymatic digests exhibited significant effects on both NO· scavenging and metal chelating. Lipid peroxidation was significantly in inhibited Viscozyme, Termamyl and Kojizyme digests from P. duplex and Ultraflo, Protamex, Kojizyme and Alcalase digests from D. fascicularis. These data suggest that enzymatic digests of the fresh water microalgae, P. duplex and D. fascicularis might be valuable sources of antioxidant which can be applied in food and pharmaceutical industry.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.1 no.1
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• pp.34-39
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• 2006

Molecular biology and microalgal biotechnology have the potential to play a major role in improving the production efficiency of a vast variety of products including functional foods, industrial chemicals, compounds with therapeutic applications and bioremediation solutions from a virtually untapped source. Microalgae are a source of natural products and have been recently studied for biotechnological applications. Efficient genetic transformation systems in microalgae are necessary to enhance their potential to be used for human health. A microalga such as Chlarella is a eukaryotic organism sharing its metabolic pathways with higher plants. This microalga is capable of expressing, glycosylating, and correctly processing proteins which normally undergo post-translational modification. Moreover, it can be cultured inexpensively because it requires only limited amount of sunlight and carbon dioxide as energy sources. Because of these advantages, Chlarella may be of great potential interest in biotechnology as a good candidate for bioreactor in the production of pharmaceutical and industrial compounds for human functional foods. Here, we briefly discuss recent progress in microalgal transgenesis that has utilized molecular biology to produce functional proteins and bioactive compounds.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.6 no.2
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• pp.118-122
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• 2014

The ocean provide great benefits for microalgal mass cultures with maintaining stable temperature due to high specific heat, mixing by wave energy, and providing large area for large-scale microalgae cultures. In this study, we cultivated a marine green microalga, Tetraselmis sp. KCTC12432BP, using marine photobioreactors on the ocean for investigating the effect of $NaHCO_3$ concentration on the biomass productivities and evaluating the potential of ocean microalgae culture. The culture medium consist of three fold concentrated f/2-Si with 4 g/L of $NaHCO_3$, which is dissolved in natural seawater. After 11 days of cultivation, the cultures reached stationary phase at biomass concentration of 1.6 g/L. At that time, $NaHCO_3$ concentration of 0, 2, and 4 g/L were fed to the cultures. The daily productivities of 0.11, 0.19, 0.30 g/L/day were attained with feeding rate of 0, 2, and 4 g/L $NaHCO_3$, respectively. Biomass productivity of Tetraselmis sp. KCTC12432BP was a function of the $NaHCO_3$ feeding rate as expected. This research shows that the microalgae can grow with $NaHCO_3$ as carbon source in marine photobioreactors on the ocean while exploiting various benefits of ocean cultivation.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.9 no.1
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• pp.8-13
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• 2017

Cost-effective microalgae harvesting methods are necessary for economical production of algal biodiesel. In this study, membranes with various pore sizes and materials were examined for their potentials in application to gravity-filtration of Tetraselmis sp. KCTC12432BP. For this test, 10 L of Tetraselmis sp. culture (2 g/L) was loaded on each membrane and filtration rates were measured. Among the tested materials, a woven cotton fabric showed the fastest water drain rate (0.73 L/hr) without serious cell leakage. Cell density of the concentrates after filtration was 6.8 g/L, indicating 3.4-fold concentration compared with the initial algal culture. The result suggests that the woven cotton fabric could serve as filtration membrane for harvesting Tetraselmis sp. among the tested ones.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.432-438
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• 2018

Microalgae hold promise as a renewable energy source for the production of biofuel, as they can convert light energy into chemical energy through photosynthesis. However, cost-efficient harvest of microalgae remains a major challenge to commercial-scale algal biofuel production. We first investigated the potential of electrolytic water as a flocculant for harvesting Tetraselmis sp. Alkaline electrolyzed water (AEW) is produced at the cathode through water electrolysis. It contains mineral ions such as $Na^+$, $K^+$, $Ca^{2+}$, and $Mg^{2+}$ that can act as flocculants. The flocculation activity with AEW was evaluated via culture density, AEW concentration, medium pH, settling time, and ionic strength analyses. The flocculation efficiency was 88.7% at 20% AEW (pH 8, 10 min) with a biomass concentration of 2 g/l. The initial biomass concentration and medium pH had significant influences on the flocculation activity of AEW. A viability test of flocculated microalgal cells was conducted using Evans blue stain, and the cells appeared intact. Furthermore, the growth rate of Tetraselmis sp. in recycled flocculation medium was similar to the growth rate in fresh F/2 medium. Our results suggested that AEW flocculation could be a very useful and affordable methodology for fresh biomass harvesting with environmentally friendly easy operation in part of the algal biofuel production process.

• Journal of Marine Bioscience and Biotechnology
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.83-90
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• 2018

Ultraviolet (UV) radiation causes inflammation and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) over-expression and extra cellular matrix depletion, leading to skin photo-aging such as wrinkle formation, dryness, and sagging. In this study, we demonstrated that pretreatment with the hexane extract of microalgae protects UVB mediated cell damages. The results of clinical study showed that Microalgal Oil treated group reduced wrinkle and improve elasticity. All these results suggest Microalgal Oil may be useful as new photo-aging cosmetics for protection against UV induced activity.

• Korean Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.43 no.5
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• pp.437-444
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• 2010

Extracts of the marine microalgae Nannochloropsis oculata were obtained using 80% methanol (MeOH) and water. The 80% MeOH extract was further fractionated with n-hexane, chloroform, ethyl acetate (EtOAc), n-butanol (n-BuOH), and water to isolate the active fraction. Seven samples were prepared and their angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE), $\alpha$-glucosidase, and cancer cell growth inhibitory activities in vitro were determined. The most profound ACE inhibitory activity was observed in the chloroform fraction, while the others had moderate effects. By contrast, greater $\alpha$-glucosidase inhibitory activity was found in the EtOAc fraction, n-hexane fraction, and water extract of N. oculata. The antiproliferative effects of the extracts and fractions against HL-60, U937, CT-26, and SK-Hep1 cancer cells were also determined. The n-BuOH fraction had the strongest antiproliferative effects on CT-26 cells in a time-dependant manner (P<0.05). These results suggest that the extracts and fractions from N. oculata could be used as a potential functional food or as pharmaceutical ingredients.

• Korean Journal of Pharmacognosy
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.252-255
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• 2000

In order to screen new radical scavenging principle which is expected to be antiaging drug lead, we have investigated 1,1-diphenyl-2-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radical scavenging activity of the marine microalgae, greenalgae(10 speices), diatom (10 speices) and blue-green algae (10 speices). The significant activities$(IC_{50}:\;<100\;{mu}g/ml)$ were observed in 4 species of green algae (MA002, 006, 009, 010), 1 species of diatom (MA015) and 5 species of blue-green algae (MA017, 018, 019, 024, 025). Within the scope of family tested, MA009 $(IC_{50}:\;=78\;{mu}g/ml)$, MA015 $(IC_{50}:\;=38\;{mu}g/ml)$ and MA019 $(IC_{50}:\;=41\;{mu}g/ml)$ displayed the most significant activity. Among the marine microalgae tested at family level, cyanophycean blue-green algae was shown to be the most active family on screening of new bioactive compounds.