THE BIOTECHNOLOGY OF CULTIVATING THE HALOTOLERANT ALGA DUNALIELLA

The unicellular alga Dunaliella thrives in media with very high salt concentrations, accumulating large amounts of commercially important chemicals such as β-carotene and glycerol. Dunaliella is cultivated commercially in large outdoor ponds, and harvested to produce high β-carotene dry algal meal and concentrated algal β-carotene in oil, used by the health-food industry and for food-coloring, respectively. The algal β-carotene differs from the synthetically available β-carotene in its stereoisomeric composition and may be of use as a pharmaceutical product. © 1990.