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Review
. 2019 Jun 14;17(6):357.
doi: 10.3390/md17060357.

Ulva lactuca, A Source of Troubles and Potential Riches

Herminia Dominguez  1 , Erwann P Loret  2
Affiliations
Review

Ulva lactuca, A Source of Troubles and Potential Riches

Herminia Dominguez et al. Mar Drugs. .

Abstract

Ulva lactuca is a green macro alga involved in devastating green tides observed worldwide. These green tides or blooms are a consequence of human activities. Ulva blooms occur mainly in shallow waters and the decomposition of this alga can produce dangerous vapors. Ulva lactuca is a species usually resembling lettuce, but genetic analyses demonstrated that other green algae with tubular phenotypes were U. lactuca clades although previously described as different species or even genera. The capacity for U. lactuca to adopt different phenotypes can be due to environment parameters, such as the degree of water salinity or symbiosis with bacteria. No efficient ways have been discovered to control these green tides, but the Mediterranean seas appear to be protected from blooms, which disappear rapidly in springtime. Ulva contains commercially valuable components, such as bioactive compounds, food or biofuel. The biomass due to this alga collected on beaches every year is beginning to be valorized to produce valuable compounds. This review describes different processes and strategies developed to extract these different valuable components.

Keywords: Ulva lactuca; bioactives; biofuels; biorefinery; green tides; virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Simplified scheme of a biorefinery process according to final utilizations [83]. Different washing steps were proposed to remove salts. After evaporation of the washing water, the protein content increased by 11–24% and the energy content by 20–50%. The adequate selection of the operating procedures (temperature, filtration and chemical treatment) determined the chemical composition of extracts.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Examples of processes proposed to improve the extraction of Ulva components.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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