Effects of Monochromatic Illumination with LEDs Lights on the Growth and Photosynthetic Performance of Auxenochlorella protothecoides in Photo- and Mixotrophic Conditions

This study examined the effects of monochromatic illumination (blue, red, green and yellow) employing light-emitting diodes (LEDs), trophic conditions (photoautotrophic and mixotrophic), and nitrogen availability (high and low peptone concentration) on the growth and biochemical composition of Auxenochlorella protothecoides. The results revealed that mixotrophic conditions did not favor A. protothecoides, giving lower growth rates compared to heterotrophy (dark conditions). However, mixotrophy gave significantly higher growth rates compared to photoautotrophy. The best light wavelengths for mixotrophic cultivation were that of white and red. In all cases investigated in this study, high peptone concentration (4 g/L) resulted in decreased growth rates. Regarding the biochemical composition of A. protothecoides, the strongest effect, irrespective of trophic conditions, was caused by nitrogen availability (peptone concentration). Specifically, at nitrogen replete conditions (4 g/L peptone), biomass was rich in proteins (32–67%), whereas under deplete conditions (0.5 g/L peptone), A. protothecoides accumulated mainly carbohydrates (up to 56%). Mixotrophic conditions generally favored higher carbohydrate content, whereas photoautotrophic conditions favored higher protein content. The different illumination spectra did not have any clear effect on the biochemical composition (metabolites content), except that, in all trophic conditions, the use of the green spectrum resulted in higher chlorophyll b content. Chlorophyll a fluorescence studies revealed that the trophic conditions and the high peptone concentrations impacted the photosystem II (PSII) performance, and also affected plastoquinone re-oxidation kinetics and the heterogeneity of the PSII reaction centers.