BACKGROUND Oxidative stress is involved in age-related muscle atrophy, such as sarcopenia. Since Chlorella, a unicellular green alga, contains various antioxidant substances, we used a mouse model of enhanced oxidative stress to investigate whether Chlorella could prevent muscle atrophy. METHODS Aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) is an anti-oxidative enzyme that detoxifies reactive aldehydes de...

Chlorella is a unicellular green alga that contains high levels of proteins, vitamins and minerals. The present study investigated the effects of a 4-week Chlorella-derived multicomponent supplementation on maximal oxygen uptake and circulating vitamin B2 levels in healthy men. Thirty-four participants were randomly divided into two groups: placebo or Chlorella. Prior to the intervention, we ob...

Viruses NY-2A and AR158, members of the family Phycodnaviridae, genus Chlorovirus, infect the fresh water, unicellular, eukaryotic, chlorella-like green alga, Chlorella NC64A. The 368,683-bp genome of NY-2A and the 344,690-bp genome of AR158 are the two largest chlorella virus genomes sequenced to date; NY-2A contains 404 putative protein-encoding and 7 tRNA-encoding genes and AR158 contains 36...

Paramecium bursaria chlorella virus (PBCV-1) is the prototype of a family of large, icosahedral, plaque-forming, dsDNA viruses that replicate in certain unicellular, eukaryotic chlorella-like green algae. Its 330-kb genome contains approximately 373 protein-encoding genes and 11 tRNA genes. The predicted gene products of approximately 50% of these genes resemble proteins of known function, incl...

Viruses MT325 and FR483, members of the family Phycodnaviridae, genus Chlorovirus, infect the fresh water, unicellular, eukaryotic, chlorella-like green alga, Chlorella Pbi. The 314,335-bp genome of MT325 and the 321,240-bp genome of FR483 are the first viruses that infect Chlorella Pbi to have their genomes sequenced and annotated. Furthermore, these genomes are the two smallest chlorella viru...

BACKGROUND Previous animal studies suggested that Chlorella, a unicellular green alga, has a preventive role in maintaining serum cholesterol levels against excess dietary cholesterol intake. This study aimed to conduct a pioneering investigation to clarify this issue in healthy subjects by adopting a dietary cholesterol challenge, which has not been used previously in similar studies of Chlore...

To understand the effects of physicochemical factors on nitrite transformation by microalgae, a lipid-rich Chlorella with high nitrite tolerance was cultured with 8 mmol/l sodium nitrite as sole nitrogen source under different conditions. The results showed that nitrite transformation was mainly dependent on the metabolic activities of algal cells rather than oxidation of nitrite by dissolved o...

Viruses NY-2A and AR158, members of the family Phycodnaviridae, genus Chlorovirus, infect the fresh water, unicellular, eukaryotic, chlorella-like green alga, Chlorella NC64A. The 368,683-bp genome of NY-2A and the 344,690-bp genome of AR158 are the two largest chlorella virus genomes sequenced to date; NY-2A contains 404 putative protein-encoding and 7 tRNA-encoding genes and AR158 contains 36...

The wavelength of natural sunlight reaching the Earth's surface was detected to be above 300 nm using a multichannel spectrodetector and the ratio of UV to photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) of sunlight in Japan (137 degrees E/35 degrees 11' N, altitude; 50 m) in early summer was estimated to be 0.07:1 (i.e., 7%). On the basis of this UV/PAR ratio, Chlorella ellipsoidea (IAM-27) cells we...

Flashing light effect on microalgae could significantly improve the light efficiency and biomass productivity of microalgae. In this paper, the baffles were introduced into the traditional flat plate photobioreactor so as to enhance the flashing light effect of microalgae. Making Chlorella sp. as the model microalgae, the effect of light intensity and inlet velocity on the biomass concentration...