TRIGGERING CHROMATIC SHIFT IN Chlorella thermophila MN006612 USING LED SOURCED MONO AND MULTICHROMATIC LIGHT TREATMENTS INCREASES PRODUCTION OF BIOMASS, PIGMENTS AND PROTEINS

Chlorella thermophila (Gen Bank MN006612) is a novel chlorophycean microalga that is capable of adapting to a changing environment, regardless of salinity, temperature or pH. A common issue with microalgal culturing is the feasible generation of biomass. Therefore, the primary objective of this investigation was to increase the biomass, photosynthetic pigment concentration and protein production of MN006612 by exposing it to different LED sourced light regimes. Our results show that MN006612 showed a faster increase in biomass when exposed to single wavelength light. Interestingly, our investigation uncovered a unique phenomenon in experimental setups that were exposed to 2 different spectra of LED sourced light. A phenomenon of chromatic shift was responsible for doubling the microalgal biomass, increasing the production of the photosynthetic pigments, and doubling the protein generated. This would prove invaluable in microalgal biomass generation, considering that one of the challenges of microalgal culture is feasible biomass output. This study suggests that a staggered approach to light delivery would better improve biomass, pigment and protein production. This approach is defined by an initial exposure to single spectrum LEDs and subsequent exposure to a multispectral LED light.