CHAPTER 9

ALGAE

Definition of terms

Algae - a simple, nonflowering, and typically aquatic plant of a large group that includes the
seaweeds and many single-celled forms. Algae contain chlorophyll but lack true stems, roots,
leaves, and vascular tissue.

Macroscopic - visible to the naked eye

Microscopic - so small as to be visible only with a microscope.

Pigment - the natural coloring matter of animal or plant tissue.

Fucoxanthin - a brown carotenoid pigment occurring in and generally characteristic of the brown
algae.
1.1. The Origin of Algae
The origin of the word algae means 'seaweeds'
in Latin, and one of the first known reference to 'algae'
in Western literature was by the poet Virgil who about 30
BC wrote ‘Nihil vilior alga’ (‘nothing is as worthless as
algae’). However, despite this, since earliest times,
algae have been part of the human diet, with records in
China and Japan going back for at least 2500 years. In
Europe seaweeds were used in soil amendments and
even for fodder in some cases. Spirulina biomass was
consumed for centuries in Africa and Central America, and Fig. 1.1. Green Algae
macro algae biomass was used intensively as soil
amendment, e.g. in Ireland. In the 17th Century, after invention of the light microscope, microalgae started
to be studied.

The first microalgae identified was the diatom Tabellaria in 1703 and among the first to be cultured
was Chlorella in 1890 in Europe. Over the last 100 years, microalgae and seaweed research and commercial
applications have evolved in Europe, being at the forefront of algae exploitation for new foods, feeds and
chemicals.

Currently, we use algae for many different household and industrial products. Some examples are
toothpaste, chocolate milk, candies, cosmetics, ice creams, paint, ink, and pharmaceuticals. Of the more
than 70,000 different algae species known, less than 50 are currently used in commercial production, so we
can assume that there is a growing number of uses that have yet to be discovered.
1.2. Definition
Based on common use the term algae includes representatives from prokaryotes (the cyanobacteria)
and from several kingdoms of the eukaryotes, whereby no scientific agreement currently exists on the exact
taxonomic classification of those multiple eukaryote kingdoms.

Algae are not one taxonomic group, the term is used similarly to the way in which people refer to
“trees”, “bushes”, or “herbs”, albeit at a higher taxonomic level. In the widest sense the term algae includes
all photoautotrophic organisms performing photosynthesis to produce sugar from water and CO₂ under
release of oxygen lacking complex differentiation, and require high moisture levels for growth, although not
for survival. In aquatic ecology microalgae are often called phytoplankton, from the Greek “phyton” (plant)
and “planktos” (wanderer or drifter), referring to microscopic photosynthetic organisms that form part of the
plankton community.

Algae can be grouped into:

1. Macroscopic multicellular species, - free floating, sometimes attached to the bottom of

seas, rivers and lakes - called macro algae or seaweeds;

2. Microscopic and mostly unicellular (although they can also be filamentous or colonial)
species called microalgae.

However, as we started to understand the aquatic and terrestrial environment in more detail we have
found that the macro- and microalgae domains overlap and that algae are complex in terms of taxonomy and
biological attributes, and in the ways that industry can utilize them.

Although some exclude prokaryotes from the definition of algae, EABA believes that, due to the
similar physiology, biotechnology and business applications of cyanobacteria, need to be, within the realm of
algae biotechnology and business development, included in the term algae and treated likewise in all legal,
technological and regulatory matters.

As no definition of algae is generally accepted, we list here just a few options:

» Most algae are photoautotrophic, performing oxygenic photosynthesis using sunlight; lack
complex structural differentiation although some primitive specification into organs can be
observed; and lack flowers or spores for proliferation but rather multiply by means of single
celled gametes or by vegetative cell division;

» One definition is that algae "have chlorophyll as their primary photosynthetic pigment and
lack a sterile covering of cells around their reproductive cells";

» A very simple definition would be algae are all oxygenic photosynthesisers other than
embryophyte land plants;
 » Another definition adapted from Wikipedia is: Algae is an informal term for a large, diverse
group of photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms that are not evolutionary related, and therefore
polyphyletic (of different taxonomic backgrounds).

» Cyanobacteria, also known as blue-green algae, are a large heterogeneous group of

prokaryotic, principally oxygenic photosynthetic organisms. Cyanobacteria resemble the
eukaryotic algae in many ways, including morphological characteristics and ecological
niches, and were at one time treated as algae.

Algae include organisms ranging from the unicellular microalgae to multicellular forms, such as the
giant kelp, a large brown alga up to 60 m in length. Algae lack many of the cell and tissue differentiation, such
as stomata, xylem, and phloem, which are found in land plants.

Algae play an essential role in many ecosystems, providing the foundation for all aquatic food chains
supporting fisheries and ecosystems in the oceans and inland waters. Despite the fact that algae in the open
oceans constitute only a fraction of the biomass of plants on land, algae carry out half of the photosynthesis
on the planet, and thus contribute about 50% of the oxygen that we breathe.
1.3. Summary of Different Algal Taxonomic groups
1. Diatoms:
 unicellular organisms of the kingdom Protista,
 Characterized by a silica shell of often intricate and beautiful sculpturing.
 They are usually yellowish or brownish, and are found in fresh- and saltwater, in moist soil, and
on the moist surface of plants.
 They reproduce asexually by cell division.
 When aquatic diatoms die they drop to the bottom, and the shells, not being subject to decay,
collect in the ooze and eventually form the material known as diatomaceous earth.
 Diatoms can occur in a more compact form as a soft, chalky, lightweight rock, called diatomite.
 Diatomite is used as an insulating material against both heat and sound, in making dynamite
and other explosives, and for filters, abrasives, and similar products.
 Diatoms have deposited most of the earth’s limestone, and much petroleum is of diatom origin.
The surface mud of a pond, ditch, or lagoon will almost always yield some diatoms.
2. Chlorophyta:

 Division of the kingdom of protista consisting of the photosyntetic organism commonly known
as green algae.
 Chlorophyta are largely aguatic or marine, a few types are terrestrial, occurring on moist soil, on
the trunks of trees, on moist rocks and in snow banks. Various species are highly specialized.
 Examples under order chlorophyceae: Chlamydomonas, Chlorella, Dunaliella, Oedogonium,
and Volvox.

3. Euglenophyta:

 Small phylum of the kingdom protista, consisting of mostly unicellular aguatic algae.
  Some euglenoids contain chloroplasts with the photosynthetic pigments; others are
heterotrophic and can ingest or absorb their food.
 Most live in freshwater.
 The most characteristic genus is Euglena, common in ponds and pools, especially when the
water has been polluted by runoff from fields or lawns on which fertilizers have been used.
 There are approximately 1000 species of euglenoids.
4. Dinoflagellata:

 Large group of flagellate protists.

 Some species are heterotrophic, but many are photosynthetic organisms containing chlorophyll.
 Various other pigments may mask the green of these chlorophylls.
 Other species are endosymbionts of marine animals and protozoa, and play an important part in
the biology of coral reefs.
 Other dinoflagellates are colorless predators on other protozoa, and a few forms are parasitic.
 Reproduction for most dinoflagellates is asexual
 The dinoflagellates are important constituents of plankton, and as such are primary food sources
in warmer oceans.
 Many forms are phosphorescent; they are largely responsible for the phosphorescence visible
at night in tropical seas.
 There are approximately 2000 species of dinoflagellates.
5. Chrysophyta:

 Large group of eukaryotes algae commonly called golden algae, found mostly in freshwater.
 Originally they were taken to include all such forms except the diatoms and multicellular brown
algae, but since then they have been divided into several different groups based on pigmentation
and cell structure.
 In many chrysophytes the cell walls are composed of cellulose with large quantities of silica.
 Formerly classified as plants, they contain the photosynthetic pigments chlorophyll a and c.
 Under some circumstances they will reproduce sexually, but the usual form of reproduction is
cell division.
6. Phaeophyta:

 Phylum of the kingdom Protista consisting of those organisms commonly called brown algae.
 Many of the world's familiar seaweeds are members of phaeophyta.
 Like the chrysophytes brown algae derive their color from the presence, in the cell chloroplasts,
of several brownish carotenoid pigments, as fucoxathin.
 With only a few exceptions, brown algae are marine, growing in the colder oceans of the world,
many in the tidal zone, where they are subjected to great stress from wave action; others grow
in deep water.
 There are approximately 1500 species of phaeophyta.
7. Rhodophyta:

 Phylum of the kingdom protista consisting of the photosynthetic organisms commonly known
as red algae.
 Members of the division have a characteristic clear red or purplish color imparted by accessory
pigments called phycobilins.
 Most of the world's seaweeds belong to this group.
  Although red algae are found in all oceans, they are most common in warm-temperate and
tropical climates, where they may occur at greater depths than any other photosynthetic
organisms.
 Most of the coralline algae, which secrete calcium carbonate and play a major role in building
reefs, belong here.
 There are 4000 known marine species of red algae; a few species occur in freshwater.
8. Cyanobacteria:

 Phylum of prokaryotic aguatic bacteria that obtain their energy through photosynthesis.
 They are often referred to as blue-green algae, even though it is now known that they are not
related to any of the other algal groups, which are all eukaryotes.
 Cyanobacteria may be single-celled or colonial.
 Despite their name, different species can be red, brown, or yellow; blooms (dense masses on
the surface of a body of water) of a red species are said to have given the Red Sea its name.
 There are two main sorts of pigmentation.
 Most cyanobacteria contain chlorophyll a, together with various proteins called phycobilins,
which give the cells a typical blue-green to grayish-brown colour.
 A few genera, however, lack phycobilins and have chlorophyll b as well as a, giving them a bright
green color.
 Nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria need only nitrogen and carbon dioxide to live: they are able
to fix nitrogen gas, which cannot be absorbed by plants, into ammonia (NH3), nitrites (NO2)
or nitrates (NO3), which can be absorbed by plants and converted to protein and nucleic acids.
 Cyanobacteria are found in almost every conceivable habitat, from oceans to fresh water to bare
rock to soil.
 Cyanobacteria produce the compounds responsible for earthy odors we detect in soil and some
bodies of water.
 Cyanobacteria have no one habitat because you can find them almost anywhere in the world.