This technology features the novel diatom strain Nitzschia palea HY1, deposited at the Korean Collection for Type Cultures (KCTC) under accession number KCTC14876BP. This strain rapidly produces biomass through photosynthesis and accumulates the high-value carotenoid pigment fucoxanthin within that biomass.
Fucoxanthin is gaining attention as a functional food ingredient due to its reported antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancer, and anti-obesity properties. However, most commercial sources are extracts from brown algae like kelp and seaweed, which have very limited content, posing a major hurdle for product development. Previous research on cultivating fucoxanthin-producing diatoms in the freshwater medium FDMed was limited by slow growth rates, resulting in long cultivation times to achieve high biomass and low fucoxanthin productivity.
This technology utilizes a strain identified through electron and optical microscopy and the SSU 18S rRNA sequence (SEQ ID NO: 1). By culturing the strain at 18–23℃ for 5–10 days and increasing the sodium bicarbonate concentration in the FDMed medium from 2mM to approximately 10mM, maximum biomass increases by about 42% and biomass productivity by 180% over a 7-day culture period. Compared to existing international strains, the maximum fucoxanthin content was 46.7% higher, and maximum productivity was 52.8% higher. This can be applied to anti-obesity and antioxidant health supplements, skincare cosmetic ingredients, and photobioreactors that fix carbon dioxide emitted from power plants and factories, allowing for a stable, year-round supply of fucoxanthin in bioreactors instead of relying on seasonal and location-dependent seaweed harvests.
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