Production of pollution-tolerant strains of unicellular algae through mutagenic treatment. I. Ethyl methane sulphonate

Abstract

The unicellular algae Anacystis nidulans and Chlorella vulgaris were collected from effluents of the Indian Oil Refinery Barauni and the Sindri Fertilizer Factory (India), respectively, and isolated in unialgal and bacteria-free culture. The algae were treated with the mutagen ethyl methane sulphonate and such mutagenically treated algae were compared with untreated controls with respect to growth characteristics and the capacity to absorb the two important components of polluted habitats, viz., phosphate and nitrate. Treated A. nidulans grew faster and showed a consistently higher uptake of phosphate than untreated. Treated C. vulgaris cells grew more slowly than untreated cells and showed lesser phosphate uptake during early phases of growth but greater uptake during the later phases. Nitrate uptake capacity was increased in both algae following treatment.