Fatty acid and elemental composition of the marine diatom Chaetoceros gracilis Schütt. Effects of silicate deprivation, temperature and light intensity

https://doi.org/10.1016/0022-0981(88)90183-9Get rights and content

Abstract

Fatty acid composition and content of C, N and P were measured in cultures of the marine diatom Chaetoceros gracilis Schütt at different degrees of silicate limitation in continuous and batch cultures, and in batch cultures with different temperatures and light intensities. Temperature optimum for growth was between 30 and 32 °C. Levels of total (n−3) and long-chained (C ⩾ 20) highly unsaturated (number of double bonds ⩾ 4) (n−3) fatty acids decreased with decreasing silicate availability. Silicate limitation did not affect C: N: P ratios. C: Si ratios increased with increasing degree of limitation. C: N ratios were higher in batch cultures than in continuous cultures, and N: P ratios were similar in batch and continuous cultures. Levels of (n−3) fatty acids which increased with increasing light intensity had no effect on elemental composition of cells in the range from 83 to 1428 μE · s−1 · m−2. Temperature clearly influenced fatty acid composition. Levels of unsaturated fatty acids and ratios of (n−3)(n−6) fatty acids were highest at the lowest temperatures. Levels of C and N per biovolume unit followed a pattern of temperature dependence similar to growth rate.

References (37)

  • R.G. Ackman et al.

    Marine phytoplankter fatty acids

    J. Fish. Res. Board Can.

    (1968)
  • E.G. Bligh et al.

    A rapid method for total lipid extraction and purification

    Can. J. Biochem. Physiol

    (1959)
  • J.D. Castell

    Fatty acid metabolism in crustaceans

  • F.E. Chu et al.

    Polyunsaturated fatty acids and neutral lipids in developing larvae of the oyster, Crassostrea virginica

    Lipids

    (1984)
  • L. Chuecas et al.

    Component fatty acids of the total lipids of some marine phytoplankton

    J. Mar. Biol Assoc. U.K.

    (1969)
  • H.C. Davis et al.

    Relative value of ten genera of microorganisms as food for oyster and clam larvae

  • N. De Pauw

    Use and production of microalgae us food for nursery bivalves

  • M.R. Droop

    The nutrient status of algal cells in continuous culture

    J. Mar. Biol. Assoc. U.K.

    (1974)
  • Cited by (117)

    • Production of lipids by Chaetoceros affinis in media based on palm oil mill effluent

      2021, Journal of Biotechnology
      Citation Excerpt :

      As a general observation in many Chaetoceros diatoms, the PUFA level is less than the combined levels of SFA and MUFA. For example, C. calcitrans predominantly contained saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids in total lipids (SFA + MUFA ≥59 %) (Table 3, Nogueira et al., 2018; Servel et al., 1994); C. didymus had a significant amount of PUFA (43.4 %) in the lipids but the predominant class of fatty acids were SFA (53.8 % SFA; SFA + MUFA = 56.6%) (Table 3; Suh et al., 2015); C. gracilis had a substantial quantity of PUFA (11.5–25.6 %) but SFA and MUFA together constituted 69.5–88.5% of total lipids (Table 3; Mortensen et al., 1988; Pratiwi et al., 2009); in C. muelleri, PUFA level ranged from 11.6 to 31.0%, but SFA and MUFA together constituted from 69.0 to 88.4% (Table 3; de Jesús-Campos et al., 2020; Liang et al., 2006; Lin et al., 2018; Wang et al., 2014). All this was consistent with the observed proportions of the different classes of fatty acids in C. affinis in the present study.

    • River discharge effects on the contribution of small-sized phytoplankton to the total biochemical composition of POM in the Gwangyang Bay, Korea

      2019, Estuarine, Coastal and Shelf Science
      Citation Excerpt :

      Therefore, we believe that the lower river inputs induced lower inputs of dissolved inorganic nitrogen and, consequently, a higher contribution of small phytoplankton in the following period. Various factors such as light conditions (Morris et al., 1974; Lee et al., 2009), temperature (Mortensen et al., 1988), species composition (Liebezeit, 1984; Moal et al., 1987) and nutrient availability (Morris et al., 1974; Kilham et al., 1997) are expected to directly affect the biochemical composition of phytoplankton. Among them, nutrient availability, especially the nitrogen source, could be an important factor that controls the biochemical compositions of phytoplankton (Fabiano et al., 1993; Lee et al. 2009, 2017a; Yun et al., 2015).

    View all citing articles on Scopus
    View full text