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The growth rate, pigment content, nutrient uptake and chemical composition of five marine phytoplankters ( Chlorophyceae: Tetraselmis sp. and Dunaliella sp.; Bacillariophyceae: Skeletonema costatum and Bellerochea horologicalis; Cyanophyceae: Synechococcus sp.) in the cultures with or without addition of ferric citrate ( 0-10-3M) were determined. The results indicated that growth rate, chlorophyll a and carotenoids increased with increasing iron addition, exclusive of the lower growth rate of Synechococcus sp. with increasing external iron. The uptake rate for nutrients (iron, phosphate and nitrate) in Dunaliella sp., S. costatum and Synechococcus sp. provided with iron (10-4M) was higher than that without iron addition. Similar result was also found in photosynthetic rates of S. costatum and Synechococcus sp. By using SDS gel electrophoresis, a marked increase of proteins near 25 KDa, 23 KDa and 26 KDa molecules was observed in Tetraselmis sp., Dunaliella sp. and Synechococcus sp., respectively, if Fe was added to the culture medium. However, the proteins near22 KDa, 33 KDa,40KDa and 26KDa molecules appeared to be increased in Tetraselmis sp., Dunaliella sp. and Synechococcus sp., respectively, grown with less Fe (10-7M) or without Fe addition. With diatom S. costatum and B. horologicalis, the variation of protein composition with Fe treatment was less apparent. Of the intracellular free amino acids determined, glutamate, glutamine and alanine were most abundant in the algae studied. In addition, arginine and asparate were also present in higher levels in Tetraselmis sp. and S. costatum, respectively. However, glutamate and alanine in Tetraselmis sp.,asparate and alanine in S. costatum, asparate, asparagine and arginine in B. horologicalis and asparate and alanine in Synechococcus sp. increased markedly with increasing Fe in the medium. In contrast,arginine in Tetraselmis sp. and Dunaliella sp., glutamate and tyrosine in S. costatum, glutamine and tyrosine in B. horologicalis and glutamine in Synechococcus sp. decreased with increasing external iron. Meanwhile, certain free amino acids, i.e. serine, glycine, alanine and glutamate, increased significantly in the culture medium. However, their concentrations varied considerably with algae studied and Fe addition.
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