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Investigation of Microalgal Carotenoid Content Using Coherent Anti‐Stokes Raman Scattering (CARS) Microscopy and Spontaneous Raman Spectroscopy
Author(s) -
Legesse Fisseha Bekele,
Rüger Jan,
Meyer Tobias,
Krafft Christoph,
Schmitt Michael,
Popp Jürgen
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
chemphyschem
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.016
H-Index - 140
eISSN - 1439-7641
pISSN - 1439-4235
DOI - 10.1002/cphc.201701298
Subject(s) - raman spectroscopy , microscopy , pigment , raman scattering , biological system , spectroscopy , materials science , confocal laser scanning microscopy , chemistry , optics , analytical chemistry (journal) , nanotechnology , biophysics , biology , environmental chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
The yield of high‐value products, such as pigments that could be extracted from microalgae, is affected by various nutritional and physical factors. Consequently, there is a need for fast visualization techniques that investigate the responses of individual microalgal cells to changing environmental conditions without introducing perturbations. Here, we apply CARS microscopy to map the distribution of pigments in the diatoms Ditylum brightwellii and Stephanopyxis turris and report their relative change in response to varying light cycles using a marker‐based watershed analysis of the acquired images. Simultaneously, the underlying specific pigment composition alterations are revealed using Raman microspectroscopy at 785 nm excitation. In regards to assessing the chemical content of microalgae, these methods present themselves as viable alternatives to the standard techniques currently in use because of their non‐disruptive nature and the wealth of complementary information that could be obtained from them.