Heterotrophic and mixotrophic growth of Micractinium pusillum Fresenius in the presence of acetate and glucose: effect of light and acetate gradient concentration.

The main objective of this study was to determine the importance of secondary mechanism of organic carbon utilization (mixotrophic and heterotrophic modes) in addition to CO2 fixation (photoautotrophic mode) in the green alga, Micractinium pusillum Fresenius (chlorophyta), isolated from a waste stabilization pond. The growth was studied in the presence of acetate and glucose. The incorporation rate of 14C- acetate was measured in the light and in the dark at different concentrations. Finally, in order to underline the role of photosynthesis and respiration processes in the acetate assimilation, the effect of two specific metabolic inhibitors, a specific inhibitor of photosystem II (DCMU) and an uncoupler respiratory (DNP), has been studied. The obtained results showed that M. pusillum grows in the presence of organic substrates, i.e., glucose and acetate, in the light (mixotrophic growth) as well as in the dark (Heterotrophic growth). The growth was much more important in the light than in the dark and more in the presence of glucose than of acetate. In the light, the presence of acetate led to a variation of growth parameters mumax, iotaopt, and beta. The effect of acetate gradient on the growth of the microalga was severe as soon as its concentration in the medium was higher. The acetate uptake followed a Michaelis-Menten kinetic in the light as well as in the dark. The capacity of assimilation was slightly higher in the dark. The utilization of DNP and DCMU indicates that acetate incorporation is an active process depending on both anabolic (photosynthesis) and catabolic (respiration) metabolisms, corroborating the model of the Michaelis-Menten kinetic.

Toxic effects of some major polyaromatic hydrocarbons found in crude oil and aquatic sediments on Scenedesmus subspicatus.

The green alga, Scenedesmus subspicatus was exposed for 7 days to a series of PAHs (polyaromatic hydrocarbons) of increased molecular weight from two to five rings [naphthalene (Nap), anthracene (Ant), phenanthrene (Phe), pyrene (Pyr) and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP)]. The toxicity measured as population growth inhibition by individual PAH to the S. subspicatus followed the order: BaP>Pyr>Ant>Phe>Nap. These results confirmed that the toxicity potential of PAHs seems to be strongly influenced by their physico-chemical properties (aqueous solubility, K(ow), coefficient of volatilization, etc.) and the conditions of algae culture (light, presence of nitrate ions, etc.). Consequently, Nap, Phe and Ant having low k(ow) values and low coefficient of volatilization values were less toxic than BaP with the highest k(ow) value, indicating for example why Nap with the lowest EC(50) value was nearly 2 x 10(5) times lower than that of BaP. Moreover, nitrate ions seemed to act directly on the degree of hydroxylated radical reactivity of PAHs, since BaP always remained the most toxic of the compounds tested. The results were also agreed with the QSAR model for toxicity prediction of PAHs to many aquatic organisms.