Metabolism of delta-Aminolevulinic Acid in Red and Blue-Green Algae

δ-Aminolevulinic acid was incorporated in vivo into C-phycocyanin and B-phycoerythrin in two species of the Rhodophyta (Cyanidium caldarium, Porphyridium cruentum) and three species of the Cyanophyta (Anacystis nidulans, Plectonema boryanum, Phormidium luridum). Amino acid analysis of phycocyanin-¹⁴C from C. caldarium cells which had been incubated with δ-aminolevulinate-4-¹⁴C showed that 84% of the radioactivity incorporated was present in the phycocyanobilin chromophore and less than 16% of the radioactivity cochromatographed with amino acids. These results indicate that δ-aminolevulinate is utilized predominantly via the porphyrin pathway in C. caldarium. Conversely, analysis of phycocyanin-¹⁴C prepared from cells of A. nidulans, P. boryanum, and P. luridum which had been incubated with radiolabeled δ-aminolevulinate demonstrated that 85%, 81%, and 93%, respectively, of the radioactivity incorporated cochromatographed with amino acids. The ratio of incorporated radioactivity in amino acids and phycoerythrobilin was 40:60 in P. cruentum phycoerythrin obtained from cells which had been incubated with δ-aminolevulinate-4-¹⁴C. Succinate-2-3-¹⁴C appeared to be as good a carbon source of amino acids as did C₄ and C₅ of δ-aminolevulinate. These data demonstrate a major alternate route (other than the porphyrin pathway) of δ-aminolevulinate metabolism in red and blue-green algae. The factors responsible for the extent to which δ-aminolevulinate is utilized for synthesis of porphyrins and their derivatives and routes of δ-aminolevulinate catabolism in the organisms employed are discussed.     

Fatty Acid Composition of Algae from Habitats with Varying Amounts of Illumination

The fatty acid (FA) composition of algae Ulva fenestrata (Chlorophyta), Costaria costata (Phaeophyta), and Grateloupia turuturu (Rhodophyta) differed in their illumination habitats (shaded grotto and bright light). It was found that the light intensity affect the lipid content and fatty acid (FA) ratios in the algae. In the shaded places, the content of polyunsaturated FAs of the (n-3) series in U. fenestrate and of the (n-3) and (n-6) series, except 18 : 2, in C. costata are higher than at bright light, whereas in G. turuturu, the content of 20 : 5n-3 acids in that instance was lower. The lipid content was 2.5–3.6 times higher in the algae at low light intensity. The content variation of algal lipid components apparently was related to adaptive response of these plants to illumination condition.     

Ultrastructure of Blue-Green Algae

Two freshwater blue-green algae, Tolypothrix tenuis and Fremyella diplosiphon, and an oscillatorialike marine alga, were found to possess structures on the photosynthetic lamellae which appear to correspond to the phycobilisomes of red algae. These homologous structures are important because they contain the phycobilins which are accessory pigments involved in photosynthesis. As in the red algae, the phycobilisomes were attached on the outer side of each lamellae, i.e., the side facing away from its own membrane pair. Although our study on Anacystis nidulans has not thus far revealed the presence of phycobilisomes, some observations were made on the structure of the polyhedral bodies. After negative staining, the polyhedral bodies were seen to be composed of regularly spaced subunits arranged in a crystalline array. Elongated segmented rods, which differed from the polyhedral bodies, were found in the nuclear region of apparently healthy Tolypothrix cells.     

Glycolic Acid Oxidase Activity in Cell-free Preparations of Blue-Green Algae

Glycolic acid oxidase activity was detected in cell-free preparations of Anabaena flos-aquae and Oscillatoria sp. by the reduction of 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol and by the formation of glyoxylate. Enzyme activity was localized in the 20,000 times gravity supernatant fraction, and optimal activity was obtained at pH 8.0. Activity was lost on storing the preparation at 4 C and could not be restored by addition of flavin mononucleotide.     

Phycobilisomes in Blue-Green Algae

Fifteen species of freshwater blue-green algae, including unicellular, filamentous, and colonial forms, were subjected to a variety of fixatives, fixation conditions, and stains for comparison of the preservation of phycobilisomes. Absorption spectra of the corresponding in vivo and released photosynthetic pigments, in 10 of the species that were maintained in culture, demonstrated the presence of phycocyanin in all 10 species and phycoerythrin in only 2 of them. Spectroscope and electron microscope evidence was obtained for localization of phycobiliproteins in phycobilisomes of Nostoc muscorum. Phycobilisomes were observed in all species examined in situ, strenghening the hypothesis that phycobilisomes are common to all phycobiliprotein-containing photosynthetic blue-green algae.     

Effect of Growth Temperature on Fatty Acid Composition of Ten Thermus Strains

The fatty acid composition of Thermus spp., including T. aquaticus ATCC 25104, T. thermophilus DSM 579, T. flavus DSM 674, and seven wild strains was examined. Organisms were tested at a minimum of either 35, 40, or 45°C and at an optimum of 60 or 70°C. Total fatty acid content per dry weight of cells varied between 1.2 and 3.7%, and the quantity of fatty acids was higher at the high temperature range in the majority of strains. At the optimum temperature, strains could be assigned to three chemotaxonomic groups with reference to the ratio of iso C_15:0/iso C_17:0. In six of the strains the ratio of iso C_15:0/iso C_17:0 remained unchanged at the minimum temperature, whereas in four strains the ratio was reversed. The proportion of the C_15:0 and C_17:0 isobranched acids was decreased and the proportion of anteisobranched fatty acids, namely anteiso C_15:0, anteiso C_17:0, and anteiso C_17:1, was increased at the lower temperature range. Some changes were seen in the levels of the n-C_16:0 and iso C_16:0 acids, but these were strain specific.     

Respiration in Blue-Green Algae

The low rate of endogenous respiration exhibited by the blue-green algae Anacystis nidulans and Phormidium luridum was not increased by the addition of respiratory substrates. However, endogenous respiration was inhibited by low concentrations of cyanide and by high carbon monoxide tensions. In addition, the uncouplers dinitrophenol and carbonyl cyanide p-trifluoromethoxyphenylhydrazone both stimulated the respiratory rate. The transition of cells from the aerobic steady state to anaerobiosis was accompanied by a decrease in the concentration of cellular nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADP(+)) and adenosine triphosphate (ATP), whereas the concentration of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD(+)) was unchanged. Concomitant with the metabolite decreases were stoichiometric increases io reduced NADP(+) (NADPH), adenosine diphosphate, and adenosine monophosphate. A decrease in ATP was also observed after the addition of uncouplers. These data are interpreted as evidence for the association of oxidative phosphorylation with the oxidation of NADP(+)-linked substrates in these algae. Membrane fragments isolated from the algal cells oxidized succinate, malate, ferrocytochrome c, ascorbate-tetramethyl-p-phenylenediamine, and reduced 2,6-dichlorophenol indophenol but did not oxidize NADPH or reduced NAD(+) in a cyanide-sensitive system. Oxidative phosphorylation has not yet been demonstrated in these fragments, but a dark ATP-P(i) exchange, distinct from the lighttriggered exchange associated with photosynthesis, is readily observed. This exchange was inhibited by phloridzin, Atabrine, and uncouplers in concentrations which suggest that the mechanism of oxidative phosphorylation in blue-green algae is different from that found in other bacteria and in mitochondria. These results led to the conclusion that the biochemical basis for obligate autotrophy in these organisms does not lie in the metabolic events associated with terminal electron transport and energy conservation.     

Fat Synthesis in Unicellular Algae

The cultural conditions of Chlorella ellipsoidea were studied with special reference to lipide accumulation. It was ascertained that there is a close relation between the lipide content and the nitrogen content of cells. Cultivation with the nitrogen-free medium was applied to produce nitrogen deficient cells, and in this culture were studied the effects of light intensity, algal density and depth of algel suspension upon lipide accumulation. The annual yield of fat by mass-culture was roughly estimated.     

Fat Synthesis in Unicellular Algae

The effects of supplying a small amount of nitrogen to nitrogen-deficient Chlorella cells were briefly investigated. Stimulation of both respiration and photosynthesis were observed with various inorganic nitrogen compounds and urea. The stimulation of respiration disappeared, when all of the nitrogen supplied had been absorbed, but that of photosynthesis lasted, after all of the nitrogen had been absorbed.

The effect of this kind of stimulation of photosynthesis on the growth of nitrogen-deficient cells was investigated by semi-continuous and continuous cultivations. The growth was stimulated by nitrogen absorption, and it was well established that the continuous cultivation can be carried out for a certain long period with a much better yield than was expected, owing to this stimulatory effect on growth, in spite of the progressing chlorosis in stronger light intensity. The crops changed their fat content slightly in the course of cultivation.     

Photooxidative Death in Blue-Green Algae

When incubated in the light under 100% oxygen, wild-type blue-green algae (Anacystis nidulans, Synechococcus cedrorum) die out rapidly at temperatures of 4 to 15 C, and at 35 C (or at 26 C in the case of S. cedrorum) in the absence of CO(2). Photosynthesis is impaired in these cells long before they die. Blocking of photosystem II at high temperatures in the presence of CO(2) sensitizes the algae to photooxidative death. Photooxidative death and bleaching of photosynthetic pigments are separable phenomena. Photooxidative conditions were demonstrated in Israeli fish ponds using A. nidulans as the test organism during dense summer blooms, when dissolved CO(2) is low, and in winter, when water temperatures generally drop below 15 C. This finding suggests that photooxidative death may be responsible for the sudden decomposition of blue-green blooms in summer, and may be a factor in the absence of blue-green blooms in winter.     

Lysis of Blue-Green Algae by Myxobacter

Enrichment from local fishponds led to the isolation of a bacterium capable of lysing many species of unicellular and filamentous blue-green algae, as well as certain bacteria. The isolate is an aflagellate, motile rod which moves in a gliding, flexuous manner; the organism is capable of digesting starch and agar, but not cellulose and gelatin. Its deoxyribonucleic acid base pair composition (per cent guanine plus cytosine approximately 70) shows a close resemblance to that of the fruiting myxobacteria. Algae in lawns on agar plates were lysed rapidly by the myxobacter, but only limited and slow lysis occurred in liquid media, and no lysis took place when liquid cultures were shaken. No diffusible lytic factors would be demonstrated. Continuous observation of the lytic process under a phase-contrast microscope suggested that a close contact between the polar tip of the myxobacter and the alga is necessary for lysis. The lytic action is limited to the vegetative cells of the algae, whereas heterocysts are not affected. The gas vacuoles of the algal host are the only remnant visible after completion of digestion by the myxobacter.     

Chromatic Regulation of Photosystem Composition in the Photosynthetic System of Red and Blue-Green Algae

A chromatic adaptation in the photosynthetic quantum yield forthe light mainly absorbed by chlorophyll a (Chl a light) firstfound by Yocum (1951) was studied with one red and three blue-greenalgal strains. When the cells were grown under a weak Chl alight, the quantum yield in all the strains increased. Comparisonof photosystem (PS) compositions, including phycobilin (PBP)and Chl a antennae, reaction centers I and II, in the cellsgrown under the light mainly absorbed by PBP and Chl a revealedthat changes in quantum yield could be attributed to changesin the ratio of PS I/II; PS I/II becomes larger than 1 underPBP light but decreases to 1 in most cases under Chl a light.The change in the PS I/II ratio is due solely to the changesin the PS I population in the cell; PS II remains constant.These results are similar to the intensity-dependent responsein PS composition. A common hypothesis for both the chromatic and intensity-inducedregulation of PS composition was proposed based on the ideaof balance between the electron flow from H₂O to NADP drivenby PS I and II and the cyclic one driven by PS I. (Received May 16, 1985; Accepted September 4, 1985)     

Fatty Acid Composition of Spirochaeta stenostrepta

The fatty acid composition of Spirochaeta stenostrepta consists primarily of saturated, branch-chained fatty acids. Iso-C(15), anteiso-C(15), iso-C(17), and anteiso-C(17) represent 66% of the total fatty acids.     

Fatty Acid Composition of Hydrocarbon-Assimilating Yeast

As a part of extensive program on microbial utilization of hydrocarbons, lipid components of Candida petrophillum SD-14 grown on n-alkanes and glucose as carbon sources were studied. In any carbon source, cellular fatty acids of the yeast contained palmitic, palmitoleic, stearic, oleic and linoleic acids as major components.

When n-tridecane was fed to the yeast, fatty acids with odd- and even-number of carbon atoms were produced in almost identical quantity. Another yeast, Torulopsis petrophillum SD-77, also gave a very similar fatty acid pattern by n-tridecane substrate. These phenomena indicate the existence of C₂ addition and β-oxidation of the fatty acid formed in the yeasts.

In the cases of n-tridecane, n-hexadecane and glucose as substrate, about a half of SD-14’s lipid was phospholipid, which consisted of phosphatidyl ethanolamine and phosphatidyl choline principally. Free alcohol and wax were not detected in any case.     

五种底栖硅藻(鲍鱼饵料)的脂肪酸组成分析

采用气相色谱分析了5种从鲍鱼育苗池中分离获得的底栖硅藻的脂肪酸组成。结果表明,作为鲍鱼饵料的5种硅藻的C_(16:0)和C_(16:1)含量都很高,达总脂肪酸的40%~80%,是5种硅藻中脂肪酸的主要成分。C20:5的含量均较高,而C_(22:6)含量均很低。其中,咖啡双眉藻的C_(20:5)明显高于其他4种,且C_(20:5)、C_(20:4)、C_(18:2)、C_(18:3)等4种脂肪酸的总含量也最高。而C_(16:0)、C_(18:0)、C_(18:1)、C_(20:4)、C_(20:5)、C_(22:5)脂肪酸的总含量及C_(16)系列脂肪酸和C_(20)系列高不饱和脂肪酸的总含量在舟形藻(MMDL51102)中最高。