Chlorophyll a/b ratio and thylakoid stacking modification in response to glucose in chlorella vulgaris UAM 101

Abstract

Summary Chlorophyll synthesis is not a light-dependent process in Chlorella vulgaris UAM 101. Glucose exerts a negative effect on chlorophyll synthesis that is more severe under photo- and chemoheterotrophic conditions of growth than under mixotrophic ones and in mixotrophic cultures more marked on chlorophyll b than a. The quantitative and qualitative effect of glucose on the main photosynthetic pigments is accompanied by an increase in the degree of stacking of thylakoid membranes in all cases and an increase of plastoglobuli in photoheterotrophic cells.