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Mixotrophy in microorganisms: Ecological and cytophysiological aspects

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Abstract

Mixotrophy is the ability to combine autotrophic and heterotrophic modes of nutrition. It is widely spread in a variety of microorganisms including such important plankton groups as dinoflagellates and cyanobacteria. In marine ecosystems, mixotrophy complicates our concept of the flow of materials and energy and therefore has been thoroughly studied for recent decades. Nevertheless, the exact data on the auto/heterotrophy balance during mixotrophic growth are still lacking, mainly due to insufficient knowledge of physiological and molecular grounds of this phenomenon. In this review, we address the ecological and cytophysiological aspects of the problem of mixotrophy in microorganisms as well as discuss possible causes of the relatively slow progress in this field.

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  1. Institute of Cytology, Russian Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia

    O. V. Matantseva & S. O. Skarlato

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Original Russian Text © O.V. Matantseva, S.O. Skarlato, 2013, published in Zhurnal Evolyutsionnoi Biokhimii i Fiziologii, 2013, Vol. 49, No. 4, pp. 245–254.

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Matantseva, O.V., Skarlato, S.O. Mixotrophy in microorganisms: Ecological and cytophysiological aspects. J Evol Biochem Phys 49, 377–388 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0022093013040014

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