Extensive Variations in Diurnal Growth Patterns and Metabolism Among Ulva spp. Strains1[OPEN]
Sea lettuce (Ulva spp.) strains show extensive variation in growth and metabolism, demonstrating a large potential for strain selection in boosting biomass and metabolite yields in aquaculture. Green macroalgae of the genus Ulva play a key role in coastal ecosystems and are of increasing commercial...
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Published in | Plant physiology (Bethesda) Vol. 180; no. 1; pp. 109 - 123 |
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Main Authors | , , , , , , , , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
American Society of Plant Biologists
12.02.2019
|
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | Sea lettuce (Ulva spp.) strains show extensive variation in growth and metabolism, demonstrating a large potential for strain selection in boosting biomass and metabolite yields in aquaculture.
Green macroalgae of the genus
Ulva
play a key role in coastal ecosystems and are of increasing commercial importance. However, physiological differences between strains and species have yet to be described in detail. Furthermore, the strains of
Ulva
used in aquaculture usually originate from opportunistic collection in the wild without prior selection of best performing strains. Hence, efforts are required to detect the potential variability in growth and metabolic accumulation between
Ulva
strains and ultimately select the best performing strains under given environmental conditions. Here, the growth, physiological, and metabolic characteristics of 49 laminar
Ulva
spp. strains were investigated using a custom-made high-throughput phenotyping platform, enzymatic assays, and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. We found large natural variation for a wide range of growth and metabolic characteristics, with growth rates varying from 0.09 to 0.37 mg.mg
−1
.d
−1
among strains.
Ulva
spp. possess a unique diurnal growth pattern and primary metabolism compared with land plants, with higher growth rates during the night than during the light period. Starch and sucrose only contributed on average 35% of the carbon required to sustain
Ulva
’s night growth. Nitrates accumulated during the night in
Ulva
tissues, and nitrate accumulation and consumption was positively correlated with growth. In addition, we identified six amino acids as possible biomarkers for high growth in
Ulva
. The large variability in growth and metabolite accumulation recorded among morphologically similar
Ulva
strains justifies future efforts in strain selection for increasing biomass, metabolite yields, and nutrient removal in the growing aquaculture industry. |
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Bibliography: | The author responsible for distribution of materials integral to the findings presented in this article in accordance with the policy described in the Instructions for Authors (www.plantphysiol.org) is: Ronan Sulpice (ronan.sulpice@nuigalway.ie). A.F. and R.S. designed the experiments and analyzed the data; A.F., M.L., and M.A. performed the experiments; M.M. helped with the setup of the phenotyping platform; A.A.E.-F., F.L., and J.M.F.-F. offered technical and strain collection support; S.A. and A.R.F. generated the GC-MS data; A.F., J.M.F.-F., and R.S. wrote the paper. Senior author. www.plantphysiol.org/cgi/doi/10.1104/pp.18.01513 |
ISSN: | 0032-0889 1532-2548 |
DOI: | 10.1104/pp.18.01513 |