Lipid Metabolism in Fucus serratus as Modified by Environmental Factors

The effect of changes in the environment on lipid metabolismhas been studied in the brown alga, Fucus serratus L. Lightstimulated the incorporation of radioactivity from /{^I4C/}acetateinto oleic and, especially, into linoleic acid. The same effectwas caused by lowering the incubation temperature from 15 °Cto 4 °C. Incubations in the presence of Cd ^{+ +}, Pb ^{+ +} orZn^{+ +} had no effect on the total uptake of /{¹⁴C/}acetate intothe frond tip samples, but lowered the labelling of total lipidsrelative to aqueous-soluble components. However, pre-exposureof the algae to heavy metal cations caused changes in the uptakeof radioactivity but had less effect on the relative labellingof lipids than incubations in the presence of heavy metal cations.Algae collected from sites where the dissolved levels of heavymetals were elevated, showed a decrease in the relative labellingof lipids from /{¹⁴C/}acetate. Concentrations of Cd^{+ +}, Pb⁺⁺ or Zn^{+ +} at 10 x levels found at the collection site had littleeffect on the pattern of fatty acids made by Fucus serratus. Key words: Lipid metabolism, Fucus serratus L., Environmental changes