Uptake and respiration of organic compounds and heterotrophic growth in Pediastrum duplex (Meyen)*

Abstract

SUMMARY. Axenic cultures of Pediastrum duplex, a green alga prominent in Lake Kinneret, Israel, assimilated and respired amino acids, acetate, glucose, glycollate and glycerol under conditions of light or darkness. Increased rates of uptake and respiration were observed in nutrient (P and N) depleted medium. Although ineffective in moderate light (30–100 μ Einstein m−2 s−1) glycerol, glucose and leucine, but not glycollate, stimulated growth and yields under faint light (∼ 2 μ Einstein m−2 s−1). In the dark, glycerol (and sometimes leucine) permitted growth. Kinetic studies with leucine indicated an active uptake mechanism effective at substrate concentrations from 0.5 to 47 μg 1−1.