Modeling of rhythmic behavior in neutral lipid production due to continuous supply of limited nitrogen: Mutual growth and lipid accumulation in microalgae

• This study focuses on microalgae grown in a chemostat under nitrogen limitation.
• Three nitrogen limitation regimes resulted in mutual growth and TAG accumulation.
• Oscillatory pattern was observed in TAG productivity with time.
• Prey–predator model was used for modeling the oscillations.

The relative effects of three precise nitrogen limitation regimes on green micro-algae were assessed using the Trebouxiophycean alga Coccomyxa subellipsoidea grown in a chemostatic bioreactor system. The data provides further evidence that growth and triglyceride (TAG) accumulation are concurrent and independently proportional to the degree of nitrogen limitation in algae. Additionally, TAG accumulation was observed to proceed via oscillations with respect to time and percent dry weight quantity. The predator–prey model was applied to fit the experimental data and to obtain the physiological significance of these oscillations. The results determine the conditions of maximum neutral lipid productivity with respect to nitrate stress and highlight an area of potential future research.

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