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The effect of fuel oil on the ultrastructure of the chlorococcal algaScenedesmus armatus

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Summary

Characteristic changes in the ultrastructure of the green algaScenedesmus armatus, grown in batch culture in the presence of aqueous fuel-oil extract (AFOE) have been observed. The changes affected mainly chloroplasts and mitochondria. The regular arrangement of the thylakoid stacks became distorted and the whole chloroplast lobed. Plastoglobules were more numerous in the treated cells than in the controls, especially after long-term exposure to AFOE.

The mitochondrial matrix cells exposed to AFOE were more electron-translucent. An increase in the number of small mitochondrial profiles was observed after prolonged treatment with AFOE.

The number and size of osmophilic bodies increased markedly in the cytoplasm of the treated cells. The cytochemical reaction of these bodies with Sudan black B indicated their lipid composition.

Plasmalemma invagination into the cytoplasm and vacuoles, cytoplasmic “layers”, and an increase in size of the vacuolar compartment were observed in cells exposed to AFOE for a long time.

The possibility that detoxification, involving microbody activity, may have occurred inScenedesmus is suggested.

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Abbreviations

AFOE:

aqueous fuel-oil extract

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  1. Department of Plant Physiology, University of Gdańsk, Gdańsk

    Z. Tukaj

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  1. Z. Tukaj
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Tukaj, Z. The effect of fuel oil on the ultrastructure of the chlorococcal algaScenedesmus armatus . Protoplasma 151, 47–56 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01403300

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01403300

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