ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Biotechnology and Bioproducts
Volume 12 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmars.2025.1543147
Extraction of beta-carotene from the microalga Dunaliella salina using bacterial lipase enzyme and organic solvent under varying stress conditions
Provisionally accepted
Fotoon Sayegh1,2*
Mona J. Al-naghrani1,2
Ramzi H. Amran2,3*
Mamdoh T. Jamal3Nada M. Nass1,4
WESSAM FOUD FELEMBAN1,4Samyah D. Jastaniah1
Satheesh Sathianeson3- 1Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- 2Marine Natural Products Research Unit, King Fahad Medical Research Centre, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia., Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- 3Department of Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
- 4Immunology Unit, King Fahd Medical Research Centre, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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Nowadays there is a growing trend towards carotenoids obtained from natural sources such as microalgae. Dunaliella salina is among the most significant natural sources of beta-carotene for commercial scale, which is used in many food industries. Enzymatic extraction of beta-carotene is one of the safe methods that ensure that the food product is not contaminated compared to ex-traction using solvents. In this study, beta-carotene was extracted using two methods: the organic solvent method by tetrahydrofuran and the enzymatic extraction using a bacterial lipase enzyme. The alga was exposed to different stress conditions (salinity/nitrogen) for increasing the beta-carotene production. The highest value of beta-carotene content was recorded in the extraction method using tetrahydrofuran (109.008 µg/mL at 2.5M NaCl/0.5 g/L KNO₃), compared to the extraction method using lipase enzyme (19.13 µg/mL at 1 mg/mL at 24 h exposure time). However, the beta-carotene yield slightly increased (21.4 µg/mL) in lipase enzyme extraction method for the algal samples exposed to more than 24 h under different conditions (3M NaCl/ 1g/L KNO₃). The results show that the enzymatic extraction method is less efficient in extracting beta-carotene compared to the tetrahydrofuran solvent extraction method, with the latter showing a higher content of extracted beta-carotene.
Keywords: beta-carotene, Dunaliella salina, Lipase enzyme, extraction, Microalgae, Tetrahydrofuran
Received: 10 Dec 2024; Accepted: 28 Apr 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sayegh, Al-naghrani, Amran, Jamal, Nass, FELEMBAN, Jastaniah and Sathianeson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Fotoon Sayegh, Department of Biological Sciences, Faculty of Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
Ramzi H. Amran, Department of Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Sciences, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia
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