Characterization of Neochloris oleoabundans under Different Cultivation Modes and First Results on Bioactivity of Its Extracts against HCoV-229E Virus

• Published in: Plants (Basel) 2022-12, Vol.12 (1), p.26
• Main Authors: Baldisserotto, Costanza, Gentili, Valentina, Rizzo, Roberta, Di Donna, Chiara, Ardondi, Luna, Maietti, Annalisa, Pancaldi, Simonetta
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Algae; antiviral; Antiviral activity; Antiviral agents; Aquatic microorganisms; Bioactive compounds; Biological activity; Biomass; Biotechnology; Coronaviridae; Coronaviruses; Cultivation; Fatty acids; Genomes; HCoV-229E; Infections; Lipids; Metabolism; Microalgae; Middle East respiratory syndrome; Natural products; Neochloris oleoabundans; Phenols; Photosystem II; Physiology; Pigments; Polysaccharides; Proteins; Respiratory diseases; Saccharides; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Stationary phase; total extracts; Viruses
• ISSN: 2223-7747; 2223-7747
• DOI: 10.3390/plants12010026

Microalgae are proposed in several biotechnological fields because of their ability to produce biomass enriched in high-value compounds according to cultivation conditions. Regarding the health sector, an emerging area focuses on natural products exploitable against viruses. This work deals with the characterization of the green microalga cultivated under autotrophic and mixotrophic conditions as a source of whole aqueous extracts, tested as antivirals against HCoV-229E ( family). Glucose was employed for mixotrophic cultures. Growth and maximum quantum yield of photosystem II were monitored for both cultivations. Algae extracts for antiviral tests were prepared using cultures harvested at the early stationary phase of growth. Biochemical and morphological analyses of algae indicated a different content of the most important classes of bioactive compounds with antiviral properties (lipids, exo-polysaccharides, and total phenolics, proteins and pigments). To clarify which phase of HCoV-229E infection on MRC-5 fibroblast cells was affected by extracts, four conditions were tested. Extracts gave excellent results, mainly against the first steps of virus infection. Notwithstanding the biochemical profile of algae/extracts deserves further investigation, the antiviral effect may have been mainly promoted by the combination of proteins/pigments/phenolics for the extract derived from autotrophic cultures and of proteins/acidic exo-polysaccharides/lipids in the case of mixotrophic ones.