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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Cultivation of Green Microalgae in Bubble Column Photobioreactors and an Assay for Neutral Lipids
Published on: January 7, 2019
Modelling neutral lipid production by the microalga Isochrysis aff. galbana under nitrogen limitation
Francis Mairet1, Olivier Bernard, Pierre Masci
1COMORE-INRIA, BP93, 06902 Sophia-Antipolis Cedex, France. francis.mairet@inria.fr
Abstract:
This article proposes a dynamical model of microalgal lipid production under nitrogen limitation. In this model, intracellular carbon is divided between a functional pool and two storage pools (sugars and neutral lipids). The various intracellular carbon flows between these pools lead to a complex dynamic with a strong discrepancy between synthesis and mobilization of neutral lipids. The model has been validated with experiments of Isochrysis aff. galbana (clone T-iso) culture under various nitrogen limitation conditions and under nitrogen starvation. The hysteresis behavior of the neutral lipid quota observed experimentally is accurately predicted.
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