Pigment and Fatty Acid Production under Different Light Qualities in the Diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum

Diatoms are microscopic biorefineries producing value-added molecules, including unique pigments, triglycerides (TAGs) and long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (LC-PUFAs), with potential implications in aquaculture feeding the food or biofuel industries. These molecules utilized vivo for energy harvesting from sunlight to drive photosynthesis as photosynthetic storage products, respectively. In present paper, we evaluate effect of narrow-band spectral illumination on carotenoid, LC-PUFAs TAG contents model diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum. Shorter wavelengths blue range resulted higher production total acids, namely saturated TAGs. Longer red increased cell’s content Hexadecatrienoic acid (HTA) Eicosapentaenoic (EPA). Red induced photoprotective carotenoids, fucoxanthin. combination, results demonstrate how molecule can be modulated by light control during growth. How diatoms could use such mechanisms regulate efficient absorption cell buoyancy open ocean is discussed.