Nutrient utilization and requirement under photoheterotrophic growth of Marchantia polymorpha: Improvement of the culture medium

Previously we reported on a suspension culture of chlorophyllous cells of a liverwort, Marchantia polymorpha L., under photoheterotrophic conditions. The chemically defined medium was a modified Murashige and Skoog's medium, which contained, besides glucose, inorganic salts, a growth regulator (2,4-D), and twenty-four organic compounds as micro constituents. Because of this complexity, we undertook a simplification of the medium. Having examined the utilization of the major nutrients and the requirements for the micro constituents, we have succeeded in improving the medium. The new medium contains phosphate at 3.13 mM and only eight out of the twenty-four original micro organic constituents. In this new medium, the cells grow under a well-balanced nutritional condition, with richer chlorophyll and at a higher rate during the exponential phase than in the original medium.