A Novel Treatment Protects Chlorella at Commercial Scale from the Predatory Bacterium Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus.

ABSTRACT: The predatory bacterium, Vampirovibrio chlorellavorus, can destroy a Chlorella culture in just a few days, rendering an otherwise robust algal crop into a discolored suspension of empty cell walls. Chlorella is used as a benchmark for open pond cultivation due to its fast growth. In nature, V. chlorellavorus plays an ecological role by controlling this widespread terrestrial and freshwater microalga, but it can have a devastating effect when it attacks large commercial ponds. We discovered that V. chlorellavorus was associated with the collapse of four pilot commercial-scale (130,000 L volume) open-pond reactors. Routine microscopy revealed the distinctive pattern of V. chlorellavorus attachment to the algal cells, followed by algal cell clumping, culture discoloration and ultimately, grow

SUBMITTER: Ganuza E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4913114 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature