2.1 Microalgal strain and pre-culture conditions
The marine diatom, Phaeodactylum tricornutum UTEX 646, was
obtained from the Microbial Culture Collection at the National Institute
for Environmental Studies (NIES) in Tsukuba, Japan. The microalgae were
grown in Erlenmeyer flasks (1000 mL) containing 400 mL medium (minimal
medium F/2)[33] for
4 days, under a light regime of 16:8 h and an illumination of 30 μmol
m−2 s−1 photosynthetically active
radiation (PAR) at 24 °C. The F/2 medium was prepared in artificial
seawater as described previously[34,
35].