科学家利用类胡萝卜素色素获得微藻生物质

       人体中合成维生素A的类胡萝卜素这类色素对人体健康至关重要。然而，难以从天然来源获得类胡萝卜素。

       彼得大彼得堡理工大学（SPbPU）的研究人员发现了从小球藻藻类生物质中获得质体色素的方法。微藻类与陆生植物的不同之处在于，其质体色素含量高且类胡萝卜素具有生物多样性。这项研究的目的是开发一种技术，用于从小球藻属微藻的生物质中提取色素组合物，并确定所提取色素的组成。

       为了获得生物质，使用了微藻的粗细胞悬浮液，细胞膜解体后，从风干生物质中提取质体色素的过程为40 kHz模式。在45-50°C下30分钟后（870.0±27.1 mg L -1）观察到乙醇提取物中的色素含量最高。通过分光光度法和反相HPLC法测定所得总提取物中的颜料组成。得到的提取物中叶绿素a的既定含量为537.5±10.0 mg L -1，叶绿素b的含量为182.5±27.5 mg L -1; 提取物中类胡萝卜素的最大产量为150.0±10.0 mg L -1。因此，从微藻C. sorokiniana的生物质中提取的类胡萝卜素的主要鉴定形式是叶黄素：叶黄素和岩藻黄质（分别占提取物中色素含量的18.6和4.7％）和β-胡萝卜素（占黄酮含量的1.8％）。

       获得的具有高水平类胡萝卜素的生物质可作为食品补充剂用于食品和制药行业的各个领域，以减少生活在环境压力较大地区的儿童和成人的维生素A缺乏症。

       A method for obtaining plastid pigments from the biomass of Chlorella microalgae

Microalgae are distinguished from land plants by the high content of plastid pigments and the biodiversity of carotenoids. The aim of this study is to develop a technology for extracting a pigment complex from the biomass of the microalgae of the genus Chlorella and to determine the extracted pigments’ composition. To obtain biomass, a crude cell suspension of microalgae was used, which was obtained under laboratory conditions for pre-culture cultivation of C. sorokiniana (strain 211-8k). The extraction of plastid pigments from air-dry biomass after disintegration of cell membrane was performed in the 40 kHz mode. It was found that the highest pigment content in ethanol extracts was observed after 30 min (870.0 ± 27.1 mg L -1 ) at 45−50 °C. The pigments’ composition in the resulting total extracts was determined by spectrophotometry and the Reverse Phase HPLC method. The established content of chlorophyll a in the obtained extracts was 537.5 ± 10.0 mg L -1 , the content of chlorophyll b was 182.5 ± 27.5 mg L -1 ; the maximum output of the amount of carotenoids in extracts was 150.0 ± 10.0 mg L -1 . Thus, the main identified forms of carotenoids in extracts from the biomass of microalgae C. sorokiniana were xanthophylls: lutein and fucoxanthin (18.6 and 4.7% of the amount of pigment in extract, respectively) and β-carotene (1.8% of the amount of pigment). It is planned to further fractionate the obtained total extracts of the pigment complex to obtain various forms of chlorophylls and carotenoids to study the spectrum of physiological activity of plastid pigments.