Journal
PLANT BIOSYSTEMS
Volume 151, Issue 6, Pages 965-973Publisher
TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD
DOI: 10.1080/11263504.2016.1218970
Keywords
Heterosigma akashiwo; mixotrophy; nutrients reduction; phagocytosis; Raphidophyceae
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Funding
- Italian Ministry of Agriculture [ABPRIA Project]
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Heterosigma akashiwo shows remarkable ultrastructural changes during the recovery from a late stationary phase (aged culture) induced by nutrient depletion. H. akashiwo cells showed different morphological types in aged cultures, with an increase in irregular cells and cell fragments. The irregular cells mostly corresponded to an amoeboid shape of the cell. Many of these cells showed chloroplasts with a homogeneous matrix of medium electron density lacking most thylakoids and condensed nucleus, probably as a result of cyst/resting cells germination. In other cells, we observed nuclear blebbing without chromatin condensation and changes in mitochondrion ultrastructure. Some vegetative cells in active phase (young culture) were connected to each other, apparently phagocytizing cytoplasmic fragments and intact chloroplasts in the medium. An explanation for the phenomenon may reside in the need of acquiring organic material after nutrient reduction for a faster recovery. On the basis of our observations, we conclude that some ultrastructural features, normally used to distinguish between different species and strains of Raphidophyceae, may be related to different physiological states and should be used with caution for systematic purposes.
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