ABSTRACT
The biflagellate unicellular alga Dunaliella develops unique cellular adaptation to thrive in harsh environmental conditions. Consequently, the alga predominates other organisms in media with extreme concentrations of salt in desert lands exposed to high solar radiation. Dunaliella produces and accumulates large amounts of intracellular glycerol to counter the high extra-cellular osmotic concentration in the surrounding medium, a high content of a mixture of β–carotene stereoisomers to defend the cell from the damaging effect of excessive radiation, and membrane lipids to compensate for the lack of a cell wall with the presence of an elastic cell membrane. Both the continous search for biosolar energy conversion of carbon dioxide into photosynthetic products of commercial interest and current attempts to produce green bio-energy are focusing on Dunaliella as a key potential organism. The present chapter describes the algal production of glycerol, β–carotene, and lipids in Dunaliella.
