Environmental Effects on Cell Composition

Many microalgae, regardless of their origins, possess a similar biochemical composition (on a basis of total organic carbon in the cells), particularly the relative amounts of crude protein, lipid, and carbohydrate, when grown rapidly under favorable culture conditions. This default setting, however, can be readily changed by environmental factors to bestow maximum flexibility and robustness on microalgae to permit proliferation or survival in the changing environment. In this chapter, the effects of major environmental factors (light, temperature, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, salinity, pH, etc.) on the biochemical composition of microalgae are described and the biotechnological implications are discussed. This edition first published 2013