Continuous measurements of volatile gases as detection of algae crop health.

Abstract

Significance Wide adoption of algae cultivation to produce environmentally sustainable biofuels and fine chemicals is currently hampered by large losses (10 to 30%) incurred by grazer infections. We show the usage of real-time chemical ionization mass spectrometry to rapidly identify gaseous indicators of grazer infections in cyanobacteria cultures. Grazing was detected significantly faster (up to 3 d) using real-time mass spectrometry than the current methods of microscopy and qPCR. By employing this technology, cultivators may be empowered to treat grazer infestations sooner, thereby protecting the crop and enhancing profitability.

Code and data availability

The authors deposited the paper's CIMS volatile-gas time-series measurements (CSV and raw HDF files) in the UC San Diego Library repository, publicly accessible via DOI. The SI supplement link is generic supplementary material without explicit data content, and OpenChrom is a third-party analysis tool, not an authors'