Enhanced astaxanthin production of Haematococcus pluvialis strains induced salt and high light resistance with gamma irradiation

This study was conducted to increase the productivity of biomass that contains high astaxanthin content by developing a mutant Haematococcus pluvialis strain with strong environmental tolerance. H. pluvialis has a low cell-growth rate and is vulnerable to stressors such as salinity or light intensity, which may hinder large-scale commercial cultivation. A mutant M5 strain selected through 5000-Gy gamma irradiation showed improved biomass and astaxanthin production under high-salinity and high-light intensity conditions. With enhanced SOD activity and overexpressed astaxanthin biosynthesis genes (lyc, crtR-b, bkt2), M5 demonstrated an increase in biomass and astaxanthin productivity by 86.70 % and 66.15 %, respectively compared to those of untreated cells. Also, the omega-3 content of M5 increased by 149.44 % under 40 mM CaCl2 compared to the untreated cells. Finally, even when subjected to high-intensity light irradiation for the whole life cycle, the biomass and astaxanthin concentration increased by 84.99 % and 241 %, respectively, compared to the wild-type cells.