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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Gordon Beakes
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Colonies of a wild strain from Lake Burley-Griffin, Australia, of the hydrocarbon-producing green alga Botryococcus were examined by confocal laser scanning microscopy. The microscope was fitted with a dual wavelength krypton-argon laser, which permitted simultaneous detection of chlorophyll autofluorescence and lipophilic dye fluorescence. This quick and simple technique revealed the precise structural conformation of the autofluorescing plastids in living cells and their 3-dimensional spatial arrangement within the dense globular colonies. Cells stained with the lipophilic carbocyanine dye, DIOC6(3) contain an apical array of intensely staining granules as well as a more diffuse internal cisternal system thought to be endoplasmic reticulum. The cationic lipophilic dye rhodamine 123 revealed a finer reticulate system in the outermost cytoplasm partially overlaying the plastid. Both dyes revealed the lipophilic nature of the extracellular matrix and enabled the secretion of lipid globules exuded from the colonies to be visualized. It is suggested that confocal laser scanning microcopy would make an ideal tool to screen isolates for their potential to form and secrete hydrocarbon, processes which are still far from clearly understood in this potentially commercially important alga.
Author(s): Beakes GW, Cleary AL
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Journal of Applied Phycology
Year: 1998
Volume: 10
Issue: 5
Pages: 435-446
Print publication date: 01/01/1998
ISSN (print): 0921-8971
ISSN (electronic): 1573-5176
Publisher: Kluwer Academic Publishers
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1023/A:1008055613827
DOI: 10.1023/A:1008055613827
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