Avaliação do potencial de microalgas na obtenção de bioprodutos: estudo de propriedades metabólicas e enzimáticas

Abstract

The climate change currently felt around the world is a consequence of the unbridled use of natural resources, which has made it necessary to establish global goals for the preservation of these resources, which include waste management and more sustainable production methods so that the impacts caused to the environment can be mitigated. The agriculture and pharmaceutical sectors are among the main generators of contaminant waste, which include organic and inorganic compounds and medicines of different classes responsible for the contamination of aquatic ecosystems; therefore, tertiary processes of decontaminating wastewater from these sectors are necessary. Microalgae are widely used in tertiary effluent treatment processes because they can remove these contaminants and use the compounds in sewage for their development. In addition, the biomass from the bioremediation process can be used as a raw material to obtain value-added products due to its composition rich in carbohydrates, proteins, and bioactives, promoting the circular economy. In this context, the objective of this study was to evaluate the potential of microalgae in the environmental sector through their use in the bioremediation of contaminants in water and the use of microalgal biomass to obtain value-added biocompounds. To evaluate the potential of microalgae for the bioremediation of pollutants, a book chapter was written that demonstrated the mechanisms of bioremediation of pollutants and possible products that can be obtained from biomass from this process. After that, the biocomposite obtained by fermentation in a submerged state using microalgal biomass from wastewater and the microorganism Trichoderma koningiopsis, was characterized . As a result, the characterization showed that the biocomposite obtained has an enzymatic pool with proteins of high enzymatic activity such as catalase (1274.79 μmol/min.mL), peroxidase (52.08 U/mL), and protease (97.50 U/mL) that are stable at different temperatures (20°C, 04°C and -80°C) and storage time (30, 60 and 90 days). In addition, through UHPLC-ESI-qTOF-MS/MS analysis, the presence of metabolites such as leucine, tyrosine, vitamin B3, and d-gluconic acid was observed, which allow the use of fungal composite obtained in this study for the production of bioinputs. The presence of value-added compounds in agriculture and health was also observed in the biocomposite, such as koninginin A, B and D and trichodermin, antifungal and antitumor agents. Therefore, through this study, it was possible to obtain a fungal composite with varied applications, mainly in the environmental area and in agriculture, helping to achieve global goals for waste management and sustainable production.