Investigation of Antioxidant Properties of Three Naturally Isolated Microalgae: Identification and Bioinformatics Evaluation of the Most Efficient Strain

Background and Objectives: In this study, three naturally isolated species of microalgae were investigated for their antioxidant activity using DPPH assay and polyphenol contents through Folin-ciocalteu analysis. Methods: Three different solvents including hexane, ethyl acetate and water, which present different polarities were utilized to extract the bioactive components from three different microalgal strains. Results: The investigated species exhibited considerable amounts of antioxidants (25.88 ± 0.48 μmol Trolox g-1 in Scenedesmus obliquus) and polyphenol compounds (27.14 ± 0.40 mg GAE g-1 in Chlorella vulgaris). The observed correlation coefficient (R2=0.8265) between the two studied parameters confirmed the great contribution of the phenolic compounds in the observed antioxidant activities. Conclusion: The phylogenetics and other bioinformatic tools were confirmed as a useful method for identification of the most prominent species. The obtained data and patents warrant the potentials of naturally isolated microalgal strains for obtaining different antioxidant and polyphenolic bioactive compounds.