Effect of salinity of medium on cellular fatty acid composition of marine algaPorphyridium cruentum (Rhodophyceae)

Porphyridium cruentum Näg. (clone 161) was found to grow best in medium containing between 0.45 M and 0.8 M NaCl. From studies done on growing cultures, the palmitic acid content of the cells decreased with increasing NaCl concentration of the medium. Conversely, when the culture was transferred from a 0.8 M NaCl medium to 0.2 M NaCl, the amount of palmitic acid in thePorphyridium cells increased with time of incubation and it contributed up to 64.5% of the total fatty acid content. There appears to be a negative correlation between the cellular content of palmitic acid and the growth lag. The oleic acid content varied only marginally with increasing NaCl concentration. The poly-unsaturated acid content (linolenic and arachidonic acids) decreased initially and then increased with NaCl concentration up to and beyond ca. 0.8 M NaCl respectively. At 1.5 M NaCl, the poly-unsaturated fatty acids amounted to 78.2% of the total fatty acids in the cell. For stationary phaseP. cruentum cultures, a similar relationship existed between fatty acids and NaCl concentration. However, palmitic acid was accumulated up to three-fold more when compared to the exponential culture grown in low salinity. In addition stearic acid was also found in significant quantities.