First data on a green coccoid microalga isolated from Lido of Spina (Comacchio, Ferrara, Italy)

Microalgae are a wide group of photoxygenic microorganisms belonging to different taxa, able to colonize several habitats and showing different adaptations to environmental conditions. Many of the compounds produced by microalgae can be employed in human fields, such as agriculture, nutraceutics and cosmeceutics, with generally null or scarce impact on the environment and/or resource consumption. In this context, the research project “Biotechnological potentials of microalgae for environmental sustainability” has been recently founded by the European Social Fund (ESF) - Italian National Operational Programme (NOP) on Research and Innovation 2014-2020. The project aim is to characterize several microalgal strains in order to understand their possible use in human fields, considering both strains already available in public/private collections, but only partially characterized, and new strains isolated from natural environments, with a particular attention to marine and transitional water habitats. First samplings were carried out in the coastal area of Lido of Spina (Comacchio, Ferrara, Italy), both along the coast and from more internal water basins. Once in the laboratory, water samples were processed and used for microalgal isolation. Among the isolates, a green coccoid microalga, temporarily named strain KS2 and sampled from one of the internal water basins, was found. The microalga was subjected to a polyphasic approach, including molecular (based on the 18S rRNA gene and the 18S-28S ITS rRNA region), morphological (LM and SEM), ultrastructural (TEM) and biochemical (e.g., pigments, proteins, polysaccharides) surveys. Here we report the first results of this characterization.