Development of 13C-labeled amino acid and glucose production from microalgae

To increase our portfolio of marketable biomolecules and meet the specific needs of our customers, Iso-BioKem wants to assess the possibility of developing isotope-enriched amino acid and glucose production from microalgal biomass. These very high value compounds were requested from us by our partner Sigma-Millipore-Isotec. We have already evaluated that these compounds are present in the biomass of microalgae with an enrichment rate greater than 96%. Although we have the analytical expertise and have done several pre-tests for these compounds, we have not yet been able to establish a standardized production platform for commercialization. Specifically, for certain compounds such as glutamine and asparagine (amino acids), our current method of acid hydrolysis extraction degrades these compounds. This is why the project was set up to evaluate alternative extraction and purification methods in order to meet the needs of our partner. The specific objectives will be (1) Evaluate the extraction yields by enzymatic route (digestion) or by retro-conversion of degraded products after acid hydrolysis; (2) Evaluate the purification yields by ion exchange liquid chromatography for amino acids and glucose, (3) Characterize and select the microalgal strains with the best amino acid and / or glucose content; and (4) standardize the protocols and evaluate the final yields from the production of the microalgae until the purification of the target compounds for the scale-up of commercial production.