Inside out Porphyridium cruentum: Beyond the Conventional Biorefinery Concept

Here, an unprecedented biorefinery approach has been designed to recover high-added value bioproducts starting from the culture ofPorphyridium cruentum. This unicellula r marine red alga can secrete and accumulate high-value compounds that can find applications in a wide variety of industrial fields. 300 +/- 67 mg/L of exopolysaccharides were obtained from cel l culture medium; phycoerythrin was efficiently extracted (40% of total extract) and isolated by single chromatography, with a purity grade that allowed the crystal structure determination at 1.60 angstrom; a twofold increase in beta-carotene yield was obtained from the residual biomass; the final residual biomass was found to be enriched in saturated f a t t y acids. Thus, for the first time, a complete exploitation ofP. cruentumcul t u r e was set up.

Automated summary

A biorefinery approach was developed to extract high-value bioproducts, including exopolysaccharides, phycoerythrin, and β-carotene, from the culture of Porphyridium cruentum.