ABSTRACT
The ecology of the halophile Dunaliella salina, from evaporation salt pans in four regions from a 600 km belt along the Bay of Bengal in the state of Andhra Pradesh, southeast India, was studied. About 60 Dunaliella strains of Dunaliella were cultured in Walne’s medium, and three morphological types of cells were described. Of these, 16 strains were carotenogenic. The specific growth rates were 0.36, 0.31, 0.26, and 0.35, corresponding to 10%, 15%, 20%, and 12.5% NaCl. Cells grew mixotrophically in media enriched with acetate, malt, and yeast extract and autotrophically. Growth was better in all media substituted with malt extract and organic nitrogen source than in mineral medium, and carotene was higher (112 pg cell−1) than the rest. Cellular lipids ranged from 0.21 to 3.45 pg for cells grown for 16 days, and from 0.04 to 44.85 pg for 21-day cells. Results showed that the halophile D. salina from the solar tropical solar salterns of the Bay of Bengal is amenable for mass culture under ambient conditions; the high levels of cellular lipids and carotenoids suggest good potential for biotechnological utility.
