Microalgae--novel highly efficient starch producers.

The freshwater alga Chlorella, a highly productive source of starch, might substitute for starch-rich terrestrial plants in bioethanol production. The cultivation conditions necessary for maximizing starch content in Chlorella biomass, generated in outdoor scale-up solar photobioreactors, are described. The most important factor that can affect the rate of starch synthesis, and its accumulation, is mean illumination resulting from a combination of biomass concentration and incident light intensity.

Production of Chlorella biomass enriched by selenium and its use in animal nutrition: a review.

Feedstuffs are routinely supplemented with various selenium sources, where organic forms of Se are more bio-available and less toxic than the inorganic forms (selenites, selenates). When the algae are exposed to environmental Se in the form of selenite, they are able as other microorganisms to incorporate the element to different levels, depending on the algae species. Technology of heterotrophic fed-batch cultivation of the microalga Chlorella enriched by organically bound Se was developed, where the cultivation proceeds in fermentors on aerated and mixed nutrient solution with urea as a nitrogen and glucose as a carbon and energy source.

Bioaccumulation and toxicity of selenium compounds in the green alga Scenedesmus quadricauda.

Background: Selenium is a trace element performing important biological functions in many organisms including humans. It usually affects organisms in a strictly dosage-dependent manner being essential at low and toxic at higher concentrations. The impact of selenium on mammalian and land plant cells has been quite extensively studied.