Carotenoid profiling of five microalgae species from large-scale production

The carotenoid profiles of biomass from five eukaryotic microalgae, Porphyridium cruentum, Isochrysis galbana, Phaeodactylum tricornutum, Tetraselmis suecica and Nannochloropsis gaditana, produced at an industrial plant in outdoor photobioreactors, were investigated. Pigments were solvent-extracted after an ultrasonic pre-treatment and separated by HPLC-photodiode-array using a reversed-phase C18 column. Microalgae showed species-specific carotenoid profiles. Carotenoids were mostly in their free form, with a prevalence of xanthophylls over carotenes. Beta-carotene was the only carotenoid common to all species. The Rhodophyta P. cruentum exhibited the lowest total carotenoid content (167.2 mg 100 g^-1 dw) and the simplest profile, with (all-E)-zeaxanthin (94.2 mg 100 g^-1 dw, 56% of total carotenoids) and (all-E)-β- carotene (53.4 mg 100 g^-1 dw, 32% of total carotenoids) as the major carotenoids. The Haptophyta Isochrysis galbana and the Bacillariophyta Phaeodactylum tricornutum were the species with the highest total carotenoid content (1760 mg and 1022 mg 100 g^-1 dw, respectively). These species were characterized by similar carotenoid profiles, with (all-E)-fucoxanthin as the chief compound (1346 mg and 776.8 mg 100 g^-1 dw for I. galbana and P. tricornutum, respectively), accounting for about 76% of total carotenoids. The Chlorophyta Tetraselmis suecica was the species showing the greatest variety of carotenoids, with both α- carotene and β- carotene and their derivatives present. (All-E)-lutein (85.4 mg 100 g^-1 dw) and (all-E)-violaxanthin (81.8 mg 100 g^-1 dw) were the major pigments in this species. In the Ochrophyta Nannochloropsis gaditana, (all-E)-violaxanthin was the prevalent carotenoid (336.7 mg 100 g^-1 dw), followed by (all-E)-β-carotene (100.1 mg 100 g^-1 algal dw). The carotenoid content of the microalgal biomass studied compared favourably to that of major vegetable sources. Due to their characteristics, these microalgae, most of them currently finding their main application in aquaculture, may be also regarded as valuable sources of carotenoids to be used in the formulation of functional food and nutraceuticals.