Marine Drugs (May 2024)

Distribution and Level of Bioactive Monoacylglycerols in 12 Marine Microalgal Species

  • Giovanna Santaniello,
  • Gianna Falascina,
  • Marcello Ziaco,
  • Laura Fioretto,
  • Angela Sardo,
  • Martina Carelli,
  • Mariarosaria Conte,
  • Giovanna Romano,
  • Adele Cutignano

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/md22060258
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 22, no. 6
p. 258

Abstract

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Microalgae are currently considered an attractive source of highly valuable metabolites potentially exploitable as anticancer agents, nutraceuticals and cosmeceuticals and for bioenergy purposes. Their ease of culturing and their high growth rates further promote their use as raw material for the production of specialty products. In the present paper, we focused our attention on specific glycerol-based lipid compounds, monoacylglycerols (MAGs), which displayed in our previous studies a selective cytotoxic activity against the haematological U-937 and the colon HCT-116 cancer cell lines. Here, we performed a quali/quantitative analysis of MAGs and total fatty acids (FAs) along with a profiling of the main lipid classes in a panel of 12 microalgal species, including diatoms and dinoflagellates. Our results highlight an inter- and intraspecific variability of MAG profile in the selected strains. Among them, Skeletonema marinoi (strain FE7) has emerged as the most promising source for possible biotechnological production of MAGs.

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