Growth and palmitoleic acid accumulation of filamentous oleaginous microalgae Tribonema minus at varying temperatures and light regimes.

Palmitoleic acid (C16:1Δ9), contributes greatly to human health, industrial chemicals and biodiesel. The filamentous oleaginous microalgae Tribonema sp. has been identified as a highly efficient producer of palmitoleic acid. Temperature and light regime were adapted to regulate the palmitoleic acid content in this study. Strain T. minus was able to grow well at all the tested temperatures, even at 5 °C. The optimum temperature for palmitoleic acid accumulation (54.25 % of total fatty acid) was 25 °C. Moreover, both light intensity and photoperiod affect the growth, lipid content and fatty acid files of T. minus. The culture exposed to 240 μmol photons m(-2) s(-1) with a photoperiod of 24:0 showed the highest biomass (6.87 g L(-1)) and biggest lipid content (61.27 % of dry weight), whereas the most amount of palmitoleic acid (50.47 % of total fatty acid) was detected at 120 μmol photons m(-2) s(-1). These findings make tangible contributions to culture T. minus for commercial production of lipid or palmitoleic acid.