POLAR ALGAE STUDIES
Within the scope of the 3rd National Antarctic Science Expedition, which was carried out under the auspices of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey and the Ministry of Industry and Technology in 2019, new algae and bacterial cultures were isolated from water and ice samples brought from the continent by Prof. Dr. Didem ÖZÇİMEN and her team at the Algal Biotechnology and Bioprocessing Laboratory of Yıldız Technical University Department of Bioengineering.
These studies on polar algae began when water and ice samples collected by Prof. Dr. Ersan Başar from Lake Skua, Horseshoe Island, were delivered to Dr. Yılmaz Kaya, a faculty member at Ondokuz Mayıs University, Faculty of Agriculture, Department of Agricultural Biotechnology. The work has been ongoing for more than a year. Due to the unique ecogeographic and climatological structure of the polar regions, polar algae studies were initiated due to the prediction that microalgae in this region biosynthesize valuable bioactives and especially effective antioxidants as a metabolic adaptation mechanism to tolerate oxidative environmental conditions and have different biochemical content compared to microalgae in other regions. It is thought that microalgae species isolated from the Antarctic region will show anticancer properties against various cancer types and can be evaluated for use in the pharmaceutical industry. In the light of new information to be obtained on algae isolated from the Antarctic region, there is the potential to create new national and international projects. In the future, with the conduct and increase in the number of scientific researches with strong biotechnological aspects, it is thought that it will be possible for Turkey to have a say in the future and protection of Antarctica and to become a consultant country in the Antarctic Treaty System.
- Within the scope of these studies, two bacteria (Blastomonas sp., Achromobacter sp.) and two microalgae species (Chlorella variabilis and Auxenochlorella pyrenoidosa) were isolated and identified from Antarctica. In 2019, the gene information of the isolated and identified cultures was published in the NCBI Gene Bank, and the first cultures identified were named "YTU.ANTARCTIC.001", "YTU. POLAR.001", "YTU.POLAR.001" after the university where the species were isolated. Preliminary studies on the anticarcinogenic effects of isolated polar microalgae have yielded very successful results. These preliminary findings were also included in the 15th issue of the Journal of Higher Education.*
- The results of the studies were presented at the international SCAR 2020 conference held online this year.
- The first undergraduate thesis on polar algae has been successfully completed and two graduate theses are still in progress.
- The outputs have been sent to SCI/SCI-exp indexed journals for publication and the evaluation processes are currently ongoing.
- As a result of these studies, we participated in the TEKNOFEST Biotechnology Innovation Competition of 2020 in the project category with the wound tissue cover project with wound healing and antimicrobial properties produced using polar algae isolated as a result of these studies, and we were entitled to qualify for the final as one of the finalist teams. With this project, it is the first team to participate in TEKNOFEST in relation to polar studies. Thus, this work has become an example that the studies carried out after the polar expeditions carried out with our national resources can turn into a useful and innovative product.
Studies for the identification of species that have not yet been identified are still ongoing, and at the same time, research on the biotechnological application areas of the identified microalgae species and their transformation into biotechnological products are also ongoing. In addition, samples brought from the expedition to the Arctic region were also cultured for isolation and identification studies. Future studies are underway to evaluate the identified samples in the pharmaceutical sector, especially in cancer and neuroprotective effect research, and to use the new species in other industrial fields according to their antimicrobial properties.
