A potential commercial market for microalgal-produced antioxidants is a natural alternative to synthetic compounds that are possible carcinogens. Further, utilizing microalgae for carbon (CO2) capture from industrial off-gas could be environmentally beneficial for their mass production, but due to an increase in acidity of the growing media caused by acid gasses, microalgae able to survive at pH 3.0–4.0 while still producing antioxidant metabolites are needed. Two strains of green microalgae were bioprospected from acid mine drainage impacted water bodies (pH 2.9) in Canada. These and a culture collection strain Chlamydomonas reinhardtii (pH 7.0) were investigated for their antioxidant capacity and chlorophyll content while growing under low pH conditions. The isolates were identified as Coccomyxa sp. and Chlamydomonas sp. based on ITS sequences. The microalgae were grown at pH 3.0 and unregulated pH media for 28 d and their antioxidant potential evaluated with three complimentary assays. The results showed that C. reinhardtii did not grow at pH 3.0, and that Coccomyxa sp. had significantly higher antioxidant potential than Chlamydomonas sp. Both species also showed significantly higher antioxidant potential than C. reinhardtii when it was grown at pH 7.0.
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