Ultrastructure of the Marine Cryptomonad Chroomonas salina Cultured under Conditions of Photoautotrophy and Glycerol-Heterotrophy*

SYNOPSIS. Chroomonas salina was cultured in seawater medium enriched with nitrate, phosphate, silicate, trace-metal ions, and vitamins, under 3 conditions: (A) light without other organic additions (photoautotrophic); (B) light and added glycerol (photoheterotrophic); (C) in darkness but with added glycerol (chemoheterotrophic). The heterotrophic cultures were initiated from a stock maintained on glycerol in continuous darkness for 41/4 years. The autotrophic culture was initiated from a corresponding stock maintained under continuous illumination without any organic growth substrate. The fine structure of organisms from simultaneously initiated cultures was compared after 1, 2, 3, and 4 weeks of growth. “Young'’cells from the autotrophic and heterotrophic cultures of comparable maturity had no recognizable ultrastructural difference. In organisms from both the photoautotrophic and photoheterotrophic cultures there was a progressive accumulation of starch and lipid with aging, but whereas in cells from the former the production of starch was arrested after early growth and lipid was concentrated thereafter, in those from the latter both metabolites continued to be produced with consequent rapid degeneration of the cytoplasm followed by autolysis. By contrast, flagellates grown in the chemoheterotrophic culture accumulated only starch, with vacuole formation replacing the lipid stores. In all cases, the lipid bodies appeared to differ from the membrane-bound droplets normally observed, which actually diminished with aging. Starch accumulation appeared to cause more rapid cytopathologic changes and autolysis. No evidence of chloroplastic phycobilisome-type aggregations was noted in organisms from any culture at any age.     

Abnormal Ultrastructural Features of a Marine Dinoflagellate Adapted to Grow Successfully in the Presence of Inhibitory Fluoride Concentration1

ABSTRACT. Amphidinium carteri was unable to grow on nutrient-enriched seawater in the presence of 200 μg/ml fluoride (F) but could be adapted to grow successfully on this F concentration when repeatedly cultured with stepwise increases in sub-inhibitory F concentration. Electron microscopic investigation of the F-adapted dinoflagellate cells showed abnormal ultrastructural features in the chloroplast (especially the pyrenoid), mitochondria, and nucleus. Simultaneous comparison with the F-inhibited dinoflagellate cells showed that thylakoid formation was extremely disorganized by fluoride and that F-adaptation conferred a prolamellar-like configuration on the thylakoids in the center of the pyrenoid. This unexpected appearance of lamellae formation in the F-adapted cells suggested that the pyrenoid may be a center for thylakoid assembly. Such cells also showed large, intensely osmiophilic inclusions in the mitochondria. Microbodies are found in close juxtaposition to the mitochondria and chloroplast, suggesting an increased metabolic dependence on photorespiration. The F-adapted nucleus showed dark and light concentric rings in the nucleolus region, accompanied by other signs of mitotic activity, which were not observed in the F-inhibited cells. It was inferred that the F-adaptation may have required some form of genetic change resulting presumably in the development of a phenotype mutant.     

A Virus Infection in the Brown Alga Sorocarpus uvaeformis (Lyngbye) Pringsheim (Phaeophyta, Ectocarpales)

Virus-like particles were obsemed in zoospores and less frequentlyin vegetative cells of the filaments of mature plants of thebrown alga Sorocarpus uvaeformls. The particles, measuring approximately170 nm in diameter, are isometric in profile and show threedistinct zones. An electron dense rim (coat), 10 nm in thickness,is separated from a dense core, 110 nm in diameter, by an electronlight space 20 nm in width. When closely packed the particlesare usually separated from each other by a regular halo-likespace. Besides the isometric particles long flexuous structuresof variable length and measuring 75 nm in width were also found.The infection could be induced experimentally in healthy cellsby using either medium prevenient from infected cultures orcrude extracts obtained from infected plants.