The present study describes a simple process for recovering a stream of products sequentially including bioethanol from the fresh biomass of the red seaweed Gracilaria corticata. From processing of 100 g fresh biomass (~12.2 g dry), 166 ± 3 µg/g R-phycoerytrin, 126 ± 4 µg/g R-phycocyanin can be realized on fresh weight basis, and 1.41 ± 0.03% crude lipid, 22.45 ± 0.53% agar, 12.39 ± 0.85% soil conditioner, 2.89 ± 0.04% bioethanol on dry weight basis along with 318 ± 3 ml of mineral rich liquid with possible fertilizer applications. The advantages of this process are complete utilization of feedstock without compromising the yield and quality of products, reusability of solvents and no solid waste. Further, the products recovered from one ton fresh biomass were found to have an estimated market value of USD 1051 while processing cost including raw material as 241 USD, a fourfold value addition of feedstock.
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As the third generation biofuel feedstock to confront with energy crisis, microalgae have great potential for the exploration of renewable energy fields, whereas the high cost related to biomass production and harvesting is the main bottleneck to hinder the applications on a large scale. To mitigate the environmental impacts in a sustainable mode, co-culturing filamentous fungi with targeted microalgae is a superior method to efficiently accumulate and harvest the total biomass. This paper serves as a base to review current advances in pelletization of microalgae with fungi for the co-cultivation process. The pellet formation is initially introduced, and then electrostatic interactions, hydrophobic interactions and specific components on cell walls as the main harvesting mechanisms are explored and generalized together with the inclusion of critical affecting parameters for efficiency promotion. Apart from the discussion about biomass harvesting, the latest studies of this co-cultivated technology on wastewater treatment in diverse types associated with corresponding removal mechanisms are analyzed as well. Subsequently, this article emphasizes the effects of fungal-algal cultivation on downstream processing for biofuel production, followed by the practical bioenergy conversion performances. Based on the policies support, the implications of this novel co-cultivation technology have shown the potential in further development. Meanwhile, the current challenges and future perspectives about harvesting on a large scale, removal of multiple pollutants and exploration of integrated biorefinery are pointed out systematically.
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Macroalgae represent a potential biomass source for the production of bioethanol or biogas. Their use, however, is limited by several factors including, but not restricted to, their continuous supply for processing, and low biofuel yields. This review examines recent pretreatment processes that have been used to improve the yields of either biogas or bioethanol from macroalgae. Factors that can influence hydrolysis efficiency and, consequently, biofuel yields, are highly affected by macroalgal composition, including content of salts, heavy metals, and polyphenols, structural make-up, as well as polysaccharide composition and relative content of carbohydrates. Other factors that can influence biofuel yield include the method of storage and preservation.
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A polysaccharide (Sarg) extracted from the brown marine alga Sargassum stenophyllum was studied for its antivasculogenic effects in both in vivo and in vitro assays, as well as for its capacity to modify embryonic morphogenetic processes endogenously regulated by bFGF, a well-known angiogenic stimulator. The antivasculogenic activity of Sarg (6–1500 μg/implant) was evaluated in a chick yolk sac membrane assay and the embryonic morphogenesis was measured as the percentage cephalic length. Sarg alone (96–1500 μg/implant) and co-administered with hydrocortisone (HC; 156 μg/implant) decreased the vitelline vessel number by 23–100% and 54–100% respectively. The polysaccharide potentiated the antivasculogenic effect of HC (42% inhibition). Basic fibroblast growth factor-stimulated vasculogenesis (141% of vessels as compared to control) was partially reversed by Sarg. The treatment with Sarg also decreased the percentage cephalic length of 3.5- and 4-day chick embryos (as cultured in vivo and in vitro, respectively), uncoupled from any impairment in the body shape or embryotoxic effect. Due to polyanionic characteristics of Sarg, which are similar to those seen in the heparin molecule, we suggest that this polysaccharide should modulate the activity of heparin-binding vascular growth factors (such as bFGF, which also acts as a morphogen) mimetically interfering with heparan sulfate proteoglycans during microvessel formation.
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A Note on the Occurrence of Porphyra Kanyakumarjensis (Bangiales: Rhodophyta) along the Kerala coast
Four species of Porphyra, P. vietnamensis. P. suborbiculata, P. indica and £: kanyakumariensis have been reported definitely from the Indian coast. Porphyra kanyakumariensis is now reported at a number of stations along the Kerala coast. In addition, the protein, lipid and carbohydrate content of the species and hydrological parameters of the ambient waters are also given.
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Seaweed is a very versatile product widely used for food in direct human consumption. It is also ingredient for the global food and cosmetics industries and is used as fertilizer and as an animal feed additive. Total annual value of production is estimated at almost US$ 6 billion. Total annual use by the global seaweed industry is about 8 million tonnes of wet seaweed.
Seaweed can be collected from the wild but is now increasingly cultivated. It falls into three broad groups based on pigmentation; brown, red and green seaweed. Use of seaweed as food has strong roots in Asian countries such as China, Japan and the Republic of Korea, but demand for seaweed as food has now also spread to North America, South America, and Europe. China is by far the largest seaweed producer followed by the Republic of Korea and Japan but seaweeds are today produced in all continents.
Red and brown seaweeds are also used to produce hydrocolloids; alginate, agar and carrageenan, which are used as thickening and gelling agents. Today, approximately 1 million tonnes of wet seaweed are harvested and extracted to produce about 55 000 tonnes of hydrocolloids, valued at almost US$600 million.
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Phylotranscriptomics is the study of phylogenetic relationships among taxa based on their DNA sequences derived from transcriptomes. Because of the relatively low cost of transcriptome sequencing compared with genome sequencing and the fact that phylotranscriptomics is almost as reliable as phylogenomics, the phylotranscriptomic analysis has recently emerged as the preferred method for studying evolutionary biology. However, it is challenging to perform transcriptomic and phylogenetic analyses together without programming expertise. This study presents a protocol for phylotranscriptomic analysis to aid marine biologists unfamiliar with UNIX command-line interface and bioinformatics tools. Here, we used transcriptomes to reconstruct a molecular phylogeny of dinoflagellate protists, a diverse and globally abundant group of marine plankton organisms whose large and complex genomic sequences have impeded conventional phylogenic analysis based on genomic data. We hope that our proposed protocol may serve as practical and helpful information for the training and education of novice phycologists.
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In order to test the suitability of a site for the rearing of Macrocystis integrifolia. ten sporophytes were transplanted from a wild patch at Whiting Harbor. Sitka. Alaska. to a site located behind the Sheldon Jackson College salmon hatchery in Sitka. Growth and survival were compared at the locations from April 4 to May 28. 1987. Growth at Whiting Harbor was significantly greater than growth at Sheldon Jackson College (SJC). A freshwater lens at the SJC site is thought to have impaired growth of the upper blades on the plants. For this reason the SJC site is not suitable for M. integrifolia.
Attempts were made to artificially culture M. integrifolia at the SJC facility. Culturing from spore release through gametophyte stages to maturation and zygote fertilization was successful. However. culturing of the new sporophytes was not successful.
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The agar agar obtained from Gracilaria verrucosa growing in commercial quantities in Chilka Lake, Orissa was found to be having an yield of 23% and gel strength of 41 gm/cm . In order to exploit this agarophyte for the same with other agarophytes like Gelidlella acerosa and Gracilaria edulis in three different proportions was studied.
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Brown seaweeds are rich in polyphenols with a basic building block of 1,3,5-trihydroxybenzene (phloroglucinol) and were investigated as a bioresource for the extraction of polyphenols for biopolymers and bioproducts. Spe- cies of seaweed with high contents of polyphenols were identified through meta-analysis and selected for the comparative assessment of the extraction efficiency of polyphenols using microwave assisted (MAE) vs. conven- tional solid-liquid (SLE) extraction. Out of ten species from Australia and New Zealand screened by SLE, Carpophyllum flexuosum (8.6%) and C. plumosum (7.5%) had the highest contents of polyphenols and were select- ed for MAE along with commercially available Ecklonia radiata. C. flexuosum was identified as the key species for extraction of polyphenols, with a 70% increase in yield using optimized MAE (aqueous, biomass:solvent ratio 1:30, 160 °C, 3 min) compared to SLE. The cell-wall bound fraction of polyphenols in brown seaweed may be larg- er than previously thought and is accessible through MAE.
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