Kinetin and Gibberellic acid (GA3) act synergistically to produce high value polyunsaturated fatty acids in Nannochloropsis oceanica CASA CC201

Two functionally different plant growth regulators, Kinetin and GA3, were evaluated individually or in combination for its effect on growth, lipid yield, PUFAs and EPA accumulation in Nannochloropsis oceanica CASA CC201. It was observed that the treatment with 0.215 ppm Kinetin resulted in high cell number of 521 × 106 cells per mL than the control (398 × 106 cells per mL), but GA3 had an adverse effect on cell number. Kinetin increases the specific growth rate to 0.24/day and doubling time to 2.86 days than control (4.38 days). Treatment with GA3 at a concentration of 50 ppm gives the highest cellular lipid accumulation of 61.5% DCW than the control (35.5% DCW). The combination of Kinetin and GA3 exhibited a synergistic effect on total lipid yield of 246.25 mg/L compared with control (121.5 mg/L). The addition of Kinetin increases the percentage of EPA 4 times as compared to the control.