Botryococcus as an alternative source of carotenoids and its possible applications – an overview

Abstract

The enhanced interest in carotenoid research arises partly because of their application in the food and health industries and partly because of the necessity to find a commercially viable natural source for their mass production. The bottlenecks in finding a natural source of carotenoids which can compete with the synthetic products is the mass production of the organism that produces carotenoids, cell harvesting and extraction methods of carotenoids. The microalga Botryococcus braunii is an interesting organism for its commercial value as a rich source of carotenoids. It contains lutein as major carotenoid which is considered to be one of the beneficial carotenoids in human health applications. The current paper reviews the status of B. braunii as an alternative source of carotenoid production on the commercial scale addressing aspects like cultures of algae, factors that enhance the production and accumulation of carotenoids, cell harvesting methods, and carotenoid extraction. The paper also presents an overview of identification, characterization and structural elucidation of carotenoids from B. braunii and their bioactivity.

Keywords:

• B. braunii
• stress factors
• carotenoids
• analysis
• biological activities
• possible applications

Acknowledgements

Authors acknowledge reviewers for providing very valuable comments and suggestions on the manuscript.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Additional information

Funding

The authors thank Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University United International College, and the Zhuhai Higher Education Construction Project (Zhuhai Key Laboratory of Agricultural Product Quality and Food Safety, R1053 and R201632) for providing financial support for the research work.