Abstract
Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) are play an important role in human health, prevention of heart and circulatory disease and brain development in infancy. At present, fish oil is used as a major commercial source of EPA and DHA, but its purification involves many problems. Therefore, searching for alternative sources of EPA and DHA is important and necessary. Marine microalgae can be considered as a good alternative source of EPA and DHA. In this study, we screened and identified the marine microalga KU01 with high EPA and DHA contents, and studied the optimal cultivation condition providing maximum EPA and DHA yields. The growth rate of the marine microalga KU01 was the highest at 25 degrees C under a constant light intensity at 70 μE/m2s at an air flow rate of 150 mL/min in medium contained 0.5 mM CH4N2O (pH 7.0). In contrast, there were no significant changes in the content of EPA and DHA. The maximum EPA and DHA yields achieved in flasks were 6.1 and 1.3 mg/L, respectively.
