Isolation of active fractions from the cell wall of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

• Grant number: 24/05147-4
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Master
• Start date: August 01, 2024
• End date: February 28, 2026
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Botany - Pant Physiology
• Principal Investigator: Paulo Mazzafera
• Grantee: Elisa Teófilo Ferreira
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Biostimulants are substances of increasing interest as they are inputs originating from different sources that can enhance nutritional efficiency, tolerance to abiotic stress, and/or the quality characteristics of the harvest. The current model of agricultural production, centered on productivity, is sustained by dependence on chemical fertilizers, giving rise to concerns related to resource exhaustion and negative environmental impacts. In this scenario, the use of biostimulants emerges as an interesting alternative due to the improved resource utilization they promote, associated with greater productivity and product quality. More recently, microalgae have gained attention because they represent a natural source of important bioactive molecules with biostimulant potential. Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a model organism of interest for research into biostimulants due to its growth characteristics and cellular components such as polysaccharides and cell wall peptides. Therefore, the objective of this project is to generate extracts from the cell wall of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and evaluate their activities based on the growth of Solanum lycopersicum. The most active extracts will later be preliminarily purified in filtration columns to enrich the fractions with the highest activity, followed by subsequent characterization.