Nitrate or ammonium: Influences of nitrogen source on the physiology of a green alga
Open accessAbstract
In freshwaters, algal species are exposed to different inorganic nitrogen (N i ) sources whose incorporation varies in biochemical energy demand. We hypothesized that due to the lesser energy requirement of ammonium ( )‐use, in contrast to nitrate ( )‐use, more energy remains for other metabolic processes, especially under CO 2 ‐ and phosphorus (P i ) limiting conditions. Therefore, we tested differences in cell characteristics of the green alga Chlamydomonas acidophila grown on or under covariation of CO 2 and P i ‐supply in order to determine limitations, in a full‐factorial design. As expected, results revealed higher carbon fixation rates for ‐grown cells compared to growth with under low CO 2 conditions. ‐grown cells accumulated more of the nine analyzed amino acids, especially under P i ‐limited conditions, compared to cells provided with . This is probably due to a slower protein synthesis in cells provided with . In contrast to our expectations, compared to ‐grown cells ‐grown cells had higher photosynthetic efficiency under P i ‐limitation. In conclusion, growth on the N i ‐source did not result in a clearly enhanced C i ‐assimilation, as it was highly dependent on P i and CO 2 conditions (replete or limited). Results are potentially connected to the fact that C. acidophila is able to use only CO 2 as its inorganic carbon (C i ) source.
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Ammonium Utilization in Microalgae: A Sustainable Method for Wastewater Treatment
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“Evidence shows that different microalgae taxa have specific preferences regarding nitrogen sources [52].”
BackgroundZou, S., Wu, Y., Yang, M., Li, C., & Tong, J. (2009) · Energy & Fuels · doi:10.1021/ef9000105 · Cited by 150 · see citing works
- Authors
- Lachmann, S. C., Mettler‐Altmann, T., Wacker, A., & Spijkerman, E.
- Affiliations
- University of Potsdam (DE)
- Cluster of Excellence on Plant Sciences (DE)
- Corresponding author
- Lachmann, Sabrina C.
- Venue
- Ecology and Evolution
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2019-01-10
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 1070-1082
- ISSN
- 2045-7758 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC6374670
- OpenAlex
- W2909632209
- Cited by
- 96
- References
- 70
- Citations by year
- 2026: 13 · 2025: 15 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 14 · 2022: 12 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 7 · 2019: 2
- FWCI
- 3.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Ecology and Evolution (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- Europe PMC (PubMed Central) (publishedVersion, other-oa)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion, cc-by-sa)
- publish.UP (University of Potsdam) (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (SP695/5-1, WA2445/15‐1)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Environmental Chemistry › Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics
- Physical Sciences › Earth and Planetary Sciences › Oceanography › Marine and coastal ecosystems
- Physical Sciences › Energy › Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment › Algal biology and biofuel production
- Keywords
- nitrogen source, nitrate, ammonium, Chlamydomonas acidophila, green algae, CO2 fixation, CO2 limitation, phosphorus limitation, amino acid accumulation, protein synthesis, photosynthetic efficiency, inorganic carbon assimilation, energy allocation
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