The Spanish Bank of Algae conserves biodiversity while putting algae to new uses

released in 2018 and off ers a blueprint of how aquaculture should develop on the Canary Islands. Th e plan envisages the integrated management of activities that have an impact on the marine environment. Within this overall objective the plan details several specifi c measures including the identifi cation of zone suitable for aquaculture (as well as those where aquaculture is prohibited), the designation of species that may be farmed and of those may not, the promotion of the sustainable growth of the activity and the prevention of confl icts with other users, and the establishment of a balance between social and economic development through the rational use of marine resources and the protection of these resources and the conservation of biodiversity.

Unit prices for seabass and seabream have increased steadily

Th e total value of farmed fi sh production on the Canary Islands declined between 2019 and 2020 due to the decline in the produced volume, but the unit price of seabream increased 5 continuing a trend that started in 2013. In the case of seabass, the unit price dropped 4.5, but from 2014 to 2019 the price has gone up each year, altogether an increase of 28. If this trend continues and the fall in the volume of production seen over the last couple of years can be reversed, it would be a welcome change after two years of the pandemic and the war in Ukraine.

Biotechnological applications for algae

The Spanish Bank of Algae plays several roles in relation to algae. It identifi es and characterises specimens gathered from the Macaonesian region before storing them, it cultivates them for its own purposes as well as for its customers who buy the cultures, and it participates in a number of projects that work to discover novel and innovative applications for algae.

Algae are among the most exciting naturally occurring organisms in the world today thanks to an increasing range of applications. Th ey are not only a source of nutrients, pigments, and other valuable components, but can also contribute to mitigating conditions in marine environments including eutrophication, acidifi cation, and nutrient accumulation. Th ey are used as feed, food, fertiliser, and biofuel, and as ingredients in the bioplastic, pharmaceutical, nutraceutical, and cosmetic industries.

Europe is a minnow in global algae production

Th e roughly 11,000 species of green, brown and red algae are widely distributed across the globe in both tropical and temperate zones and are broadly categorised into micro and macro algae. Th e former are unicellular organisms ranging in size from a few micrometres (millionths of a metre) to a few hundred micrometres, while the latter can be several tens of meters in length. Algae are a longstanding part of the human diet in some corners of Europe, but it is consumption in some Asian countries that is most conspicuous. Algae’s potential is increasingly recognised in Europe, where a fl edgling industry seeks to exploit some of the promise that these organisms off er. Policy makers acknowledge the role algae can play in realising European goals such as those envisaged in the European Green Deal and the Farm to Fork strategy and at the European level an EU algae initiative is in the pipeline that aims to increase sustainable production of algae and algae-based products. And with good reason. According to the FAO, aquatic plant production in

Dr Juan Luis Gómez Pinchetti, scientifi c director of the Spanish Algae Bank in Telde on Gran Canaria.

the EU in 2020 was a puny 87,000 tonnes, less than a quarter percent of the global production of 36 million tonnes. Th e biggest EU producers are France, Ireland and Spain. In Spain, the Spanish Bank of Algae, part of the University of Las Palmas on Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands, is dedicated to isolating, characterising, and conserving algae biodiversity. Researchers are also studying and improving cultivation techniques and fi nding innovative applications for algae, cultures of which are provided to the scientifi c community, private industry or other organisations.

Isolates taken from the collected samples are maintained in the bank and are used to monitor the genetic integrity of the cultures which may have mutated during the growth process.

Practical applications are an important part of the bank’s research

Th e Canary Islands are highly biodiverse, says Juan Luis Gómez Pinchetti, the scientifi c director at the Spanish Algae Bank, and this is refl ected in the more than 2,000 strains of microalgae and cyanobacteria that are stored at the bank. We feel these represent a vast potential for biotechnological projects that could be very interesting commercially, he adds. Th e cultures represent the Canary Islands but also the Salvajes, Madeira, Azores and Cape Verde Islands, which, taken together, form the Macaonesian region. Th e work to isolate and characterise the diff erent species of algae in the region is leading to the discovery of new strains, says Dr Pinchetti, and identifying the genetic potential of this material is very exciting work. Th e Spanish Bank of Algae functions not only as a depository for algae but researchers also study the cultures’ potential for practical applications. Th ey work closely with the Technological Institute of the Canary Islands (ITC), an organisation owned by the government of the Canary Islands, that seeks to sustainably develop and deploy technologies in diff erent fi elds, of which algae is one. Over the last fi ve years the Algae Bank has worked with ITC and the local government (Society for Economical Promotion of GC - SPEGC, Cabildo of Gran Canaria) to develop the algal biotechnology sector on the Canary Islands by attracting companies interested in this discipline to set up shop. Th e carrot off ered to companies is that they can draw on the knowledge and experience of the Algae Bank and on the infrastructure that ITC provides to reduce some of their risk. Th e overall strategy is to try and diversify the economy on the Canary Islands so that it is less dependent on tourism (the largest contributor to the blue economy on the Canaries after ports and port services). And activities encompassed by the blue economy and the circular economy are seen to off er a lot of potential.

Greater interest in and funding for algae have benefi ted the bank

Th e project that became the Algae Bank started several years ago and over time the bank has been restructured into the collection activity and the biotechnology unit which applies for funding to diff erent bodies to study the new strains that are brought into the collection. Th e bank now has a laboratory scale production of algae as well as a bigger pilot plant to study how the algae grow under conditions that resemble those in a commercial environment. In the laboratory scale the output is small, perhaps only a few milligrams of biomass. Th e main purpose of laboratory scale production is to see whether the microalgae can be cultivated at all, how they grow, and whether growth is rapid or slow. Th ere are samples in the collection that have not previously been described for the Canary Islands and in some instances are new even to science. Th e pilot plant, however, is used to produce much larger volumes of biomass. Up to a kilo can be produced making it more convenient to test for the components being sought. Support for projects involving algae has become more generous over the last few years as decision makers realise that algae (or seaweed) have the potential to contribute to many of the EU policies that seek to make the European economy more sustainable, a key aim of the European Commission. Th e Algae Bank has benefi ted from this interest, says Dr Pinchetti, with several projects in which it is involved now being supported through European funds. Among them is one that involves bioprospecting around the island (Gran Canaria) for marine strains, for freshwater varieties that are found in the centre of the island, as well as for those found in the salt marshes along the east coast of the island. Samples were also collected from an underwater volcano where viable cells were found in the water column in an environment of very low pH and very high carbon dioxide concentrations. All these samples are brought back to the laboratory where they are kept alive as other methods of maintaining them such as cryopreservation are not possible with microalgae.

Laboratory scale cultivation of microalgae indicates how the organisms respond to growing conditions that are somewhat different from those in the natural environment.

Sale of cultures to clients within and outside Spain

At the Algae Bank technicians must sometimes start a culture with just a single cell. Before entering the collection, the algae are identifi ed using classical taxonomy, but also modern molecular biology tools. Th is information is stored with the sample in the collection. In the next stage the sample is grown

at the laboratory scale to check growth patterns under laboratory conditions. Finally, at the pilot plant stage the possible bioactive components and the composition of the algae are identifi ed. From the bank’s website the cells are off ered for sale to laboratories at research institutions or companies. Visitors to the website can choose the cells desired from which the bank will then create a culture to be sent to the customer with all the required protocols and documents that ensure the legality of the transaction. Th e bank will also provide extracts from a selection of cells if requested by the client. Th e bank has three growing chambers with diff erent taxonomical groups in each chamber under diff erent conditions. Th e microalgae are not allowed to grow too rapidly and isolates from the original genetic material are stored separately so that researchers have a fallback in case the growth process results in mutations in the cells in response to the artifi cial environment in which they live. Attempts are made to reproduce the microalgae’s natural conditions (temperature, light, carbon dioxide, etc.) in the laboratory, but this is not always possible, Dr Pinchetti points out. It is diffi cult to maintain one set of conditions for one strain and a diff erent set for another strain, but we do our best.

International cooperation to bo ost biotechnology sector

Th e bank complies with the Nagoya protocol, an international agreement that ensures the equitable sharing of benefi ts accruing from the exploitation of genetic resources, and is also involved in the development of a European standard for algae and algae products. Th e bank is denominated by the Spanish government and recognised by the World Intellectual Property Organization as an international depositary authority for algae, one of only three in Europe. Th e others are in the UK and in Switzerland. Th is status means that a company anywhere in the world that wishes to patent a strain of microalgae that it has improved by genetic modifi cation and selection can deposit a sample of the strain with the Spanish Bank of Algae. Th e bank also works with researchers on Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verde, and Mauritania to create a network of collections from these places to foster the biotechnology sector in the region.

Project partners come from many different disciplines

Th e bank maintains a comprehensive database of the information derived from the collection and uses this intellectual property in various projects that look at the selection of strains for diff erent applications. In Sabana, a project led by the University of Almeria in which the bank is also a partner, researchers study bioremediation with microalgae and their possible application in biofertilisers and biopesticides. Th e role of the bank is to select potentially interesting strains, culture them at laboratory scale to check how they grow, and then subject them to chemical analyses to identify components that could be used in these applications. In the laboratory, all the conditions, light, temperature, nutrients, carbon dioxide, salinity, pH etc. can be monitored and adjusted allowing for carefully calibrated experiments. In another part of the project diluted sewage was treated with certain strains of algae grown at pilot plant scale to study if the organic nutrients in the sewage could be used to create algal biomass. Th is would lessen the load on the environment and generate

Experiments are conducted with macroalgae, which also show great potential for use in different applications.

biomass which could potentially be used as a biostimulant to grow crops. Projects are also conducted with the textile and cosmetics sector to identify pigments and bioactive compounds in seaweed that may be useful for these industries. Another project involves the use of microalgae for aquafeeds for which again the bank selects certain promising species. Th e bank adopts a cross disciplinary approach, working with scientists from the engineering as well as from the veterinary faculties, in addition to others. In a recent paper in the journal Algal Research, Dr Pinchetti and his international co-authors tested a biodegradable fi lm made from the microalga Graesiella sp. Th e fi lm was used to package beef and over nine days of refrigerated storage showed several advantages over conventional PVC packaging including less drip loss, lower lipid oxidation, as well as higher stability of colour and pH. As plastics are persistent pollutants with harmful eff ects on the environment and are widely used in packaging, eff orts to replace them with more natural alternatives could have major positive implications for the planet. If research at the Spanish Bank of Algae identifi es microalgae as a potential source of bioplastics, it would contribute to solving one of biggest challenges of our times.

Spanish Bank of Algae

University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria Muelle de Taliarte, s/n 35214 Telde (Gran Canaria) Spain

Tel.: +34 928 133 290 Fax: +34 928 132 830 info@marinebiotechnology.org https://marinebiotechnology.org/ en/

Scientifi c director: Dr Juan Luis

Gómez Pinchetti

Culture collection director:

Dr Antera Martel Quintana Activity: Collection, identification, characterisation, and storage of algae; growth of algae cultures at laboratory and pilot scales; testing of samples for potentially useful compounds; sale of algae cultures to research and commercial laboratories Designation: International Depositary Authority for Algae Collection: >2,000 samples of algae and cyanobacteria