Comparative Study of Nutritional Importance of Some Marine Macroalgae as a Novel Natural Source of Amino Acids
This study aimed to investigate the amino acids contents of some brown (Hormophysa cuneiformis, Sargassum muticum, and Padina minor), red (Digenea simplex, Amphiroa anceps, and Corallina mediterranea), and green macroalgae (Codium elongatum, Ulva fasciata, and Cladophora sp.) collected from the Egypt coasts, using an Eppendorf/Biotronik LC 3000 amino acid analyzer. The results showed that the total amino acid content ranged from 11.84 ± 0.55 mg/g dry weight (DW) in D. simplex to 33.43 ± 1.29 mg/g DW in U. fasciata. Threonine and L-methionine were the major essential amino acids (EAAs) in red and brown macroalgae, respectively, whereas in green macroalgae, the major EAAs varied between macroalgae species as follows: L-lysine in C. elongatum, L-leucine in U. fasciata, and L-valine in Cladophora sp. L-aspartic and L-glutamic acids together represented a large portion of the amino acid content. The high content of EAAs in all the species under study makes them an important resource for nutritional applications.