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The effect of light on the cellular stoichiometry of Chlorella sp. in different growth phases: implications of nutrient drawdown in batch experiments

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Abstract

Identification of nutrient status is essential to Chlorella sp. cultivation for biodiesel production. Critical cellular elemental ratio is a commonly used parameter to assess nutrient status, but the definition of critical cellular elemental ratio is inconsistent, and the influence of light and growth phase on this ratio is still unclear. In this study, Chlorella sp. was batch cultured under different conditions of light and nutrient supply ratio. Nitrate and phosphate consumption in the medium and particulate cellular carbon (C), nitrogen (N), and phosphorus (P) contents were measured. We first obtained the critical nutrient supply ratio to assess nutrient limitation and then utilized this ratio to deduce the critical cellular elemental ratio. The critical nutrient supply ratio was significantly affected by light intensity, and was approximately 45, 15, and between 30 to 45 under light intensities of 50, 100, and 200 μmol photons m−2 s−1, respectively. Critical cellular C/N/P ratios of Chlorella sp. at three light intensities of 50, 100, and 200 μmol photons m−2 s−1 in exponential growth phase were C159.91–237.30N15.90–22.52P, C104.02–167.39N11.71–17.35P, and C144.30–243.66N12.84–19.84P, and in stationary growth phase the ratios were C201.47–406.14N16.55–32.67P, C125.05–298.44N10.12–24.24P, and C168.65–342.42N14.47–29.18P, respectively. These results supported the hypothesis that the critical cellular elemental ratio, which is used to predict nutrient status, varies and depends on light intensity and growth phase.

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Acknowledgments

This study was financed by the Chongqing Research Program of Basic Research and Frontier Technology (no. cstc2015jcyjBX0006), National Science Foundation of China (no. 41430750 and no. 51309220), and National Key S&T Project on Water Pollution Control and Treatment (no. 2014ZX07104-006). We give personal thanks to Mei Yang and Li Ping Zhang for their help with the laboratory work and to the anonymous reviewers for their comments and advice regarding the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of the Three Gorges Reservoir Region’s Eco-Environments of MOE, Chongqing University, Chongqing, 400045, China

    Jing Liu, Jing-song Guo & Fang Fang

  2. Key Laboratory of Reservoir Aquatic Environment of CAS, Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing, 400714, China

    Zhe Li, Jing-song Guo, Yan Xiao & Rong-cong Qin

  3. Municipal Department, Xiamen Urban Planning & Design Institute, Xiamen, Fujian, 361000, China

    Ling-ling Zhang

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  1. Jing Liu
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  2. Zhe Li
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  3. Jing-song Guo
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Correspondence to Zhe Li.

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Liu, J., Li, Z., Guo, Js. et al. The effect of light on the cellular stoichiometry of Chlorella sp. in different growth phases: implications of nutrient drawdown in batch experiments. J Appl Phycol 29, 123–131 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-016-0962-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-016-0962-9

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