Biological and Phytochemical Screening of Plants

Biomass and lipid productivities of Chlorella vulgaris under different growth conditions were investigated. While autotrophic growth did provide higher cellular lipid content (38%), the lipid productivity was much lower compared with those from heterotrophic growth with acetate, glucose, or glycerol. Optimal cell growth (2 g l−1) and lipid productivity (54 mg l−1 day−1) were attained using glucose at 1% (w/v) whereas higher concentrations were inhibitory. Growth of C. vulgaris on glycerol had a similar dose effects as those from glucose. Overall, C. vulgaris is mixotrophic.

Biomass and lipid productivities of Chlorella vulgaris under autotrophic, heterotrophic and mixotrophic growth conditions.

TIic Culture Collection of Algac at The University of Texas (Ul EX) at Austin was formerly located at Indiana University, Bloomington. In the summer of 1976 when the writer joined ihc faculty of the Department of Botany at The University of Texas, plans were formtilated for moving ihe Collection. With the cooperatioti of the National Science Foundation atid the Administrations of Indiana University and The University of Texas at Austin, the move was made duritig 1976-77 without atiy interruption of service to the scientific community. The Utiiversiiy of Texas has (lrovided and equipped physical facilities for the maintenance and o{>etation of the Collection. The contitiued support of the Collection as a natiotial researcli resource by the National Science Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. The Fottndation provides ihe tnajor fttiancial supjjon fur the actual oi>eration of the Collection, but funds received frotn the sale of ctiltutes are mainlairivd in a special account for partial support of Collection needs such as postage, supplies, secretarial help» etc.

The culture collevtion of algae at the university of texas ataustin 123

A list is presented of cultures of algae available for purposes of research and teaching. The list includes 753 Chlorophyta; 94 Chrysophyta; 56 Cyanophyta; 55 Euglenophyta; 7 Pyrrophyta; 6 Rhodophyta; 1 species of Phaeophyta; and 5 residual flagellates. Formulae of culture media and directions for maintaining the cultures are included, as are instructions for evoking the sexual process in species of Chlamydomonas, Astrephomene, Pandorina, Eudorina, Cosniarium, Closterium, 0edogonium, Bulbochaete, and Vaucheria. THE CULTIVATION of algae has shown rapid progress in the last two decades due to the increasing awareness of their usefulness as materials in physiological and genetic research, as well as in basic studies in morphology, taxonomy, cytology, and ecology, where the availability of large clonal populations is often of prime importance. The desirability of preserving algal strains which have been used in investigations and the need by investigators for a source of algal strains for research prompted the establishment of a culture collection of algae at Prague, and later at Cambridge University, by Dr. E. G. Pringsheim. Smaller collections in Paris, Basel, and other laboratories both in Europe and the United States included some algal cultures, but onily in the Cambridge Collection was there a variety of cultures which, upon payment of a small fee, were readily available to any worker. It was felt that for safety and convenience, especially on the part of the investigators in the United States, a collection similar to that at Cambridge should be established in the United States. Accordingly, the Culture Collection of Algae at Indiana University was established in the Department of Botany in 1953, using a nucleus of cultures obtained from the Culture Collection of Algae and Protozoa at Cambridge University. The Research and Equipment Committees of Indiana University provided funds for the installation of physical facilities for the cultivation of algae. Funds for materials and technical assistance were given by the Lilly Research Laboratories of Indianapolis during 1953-1955 and by the Charles F. Kettering Foundation of Yellow Springs, Ohio, during 1955-1959. The National Science Foundation, through Grant NSF G11027, has provided funds for a full-time curator since February 1, 1960, and through Grant NSF GB-1689 has permitted the purchase and installation of laboratory furniture for expanded laboratory facilities for the Collection in 1963-1964. The National Institutes of Health activated on February 1, 1965, Grant PHS FR 00141 01 to provide for a study of longterm preservation of algal stocks and for the 1 Received for publication MWarch 30, 1964. The costs for excess pagination are being defrayed by the Culture Collection of Algae at Indiana University. isolation and characterization of new genetic stocks. Indiana University acknowledges with appreciation the support given by these organizations. Funds received from the sale of cultures cover the expenses of other employees, supplies, postage, and secretarial assistance. No charges are made by Indiana University for the use and maintenance of physical facilities. CULTURES FOR RESEAR CH-All cultures in the Collection are available to all interested individuals and organizations, both academic and commercial. To acadenmic institutions and nonprofit organizations the cost per culture is $2.002 postpaid; commercial organizations are charged $10.00 per culture postpaid. Cultures for research can usually be sent within 10 days after the receipt of the order. Investigators who use cultures from the Collection are requested to indicate the IU Collection numbers in their publications in order to identify their strains more exactly. Reprints of such publications will be appreciated. Investigators using newly isolated algal strains in their researches are invited to send their strains to the Collection at any time they may have no objection to unrestricted distribution to other workers. Mutant strains will be added to the Collection only if they have been characterized. The final decision on the addition of any strain to the Collection must be reserved for the Director. CULTURES FOR TEACHING-Although the Collection was established primarily to serve as a source of cultures for research, the urgent need for cultures of living algae in teaching is recognized. Please see the section at the end of the culture list for details of the reduced rates for certain cultures selected for use in the classroom. ORDERS-Orders for cultures for research and for teaching should be addressed to the Culture Collection of Algae, Department of Botany, Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana. Requests by personal letters or by telephone (Area Code 812; 337-5353) will be filled with invoicing delayed, if desired, until after receipt of official confirming purchase orders. Payment should be made to Indiana University only after the receipt of invoice forms issued-by the Culture Collection. 2 Prices in effect beginning January 1, 1965; until that time, $1.00.

The culture collection of algae at indiana university

Measuring the production of marine phytoplankton

An introductory section includes a brief resume of previous observations on the fluorescence of crude drugs and drug products exposed to ultraviolet radiation. A key for identification of powdered vegetable drugs based on their fluorescence under ultraviolet radiation is presented. Possible application of the method and its shortcomings are discussed.

Fluorescence of powdered vegetable drugs with particular reference to development of a system of identification.

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/99/2574/351.full.pdf

Chlorellin, an antibacterial substance from chlorella

Several species of marine algae collected during the hl and sring on the central California coast, yielgd extracts that inhibited the growth in vitro of one or more of the following species of bacteria: Staphyococcus aureus, Eschericbia coli, and Pseudomonas aerugimsa (pyocyunea). The inhibitory activity of the extracts was not due to iodine. Extracts prepared from plants collected during the winter months were devoid of antibacterial activity.

Report on antibiotic activity of seaweed extracts

CHLORELLIN, AN antibiotic substance or complex of substances active against a number of Grampositive and Gram-negative bacteria has been extracted from cultures of Chlorella in inorganic nutrient solutions (Pratt et al., 1944) and some of its biological properties have been described (Pratt, 1942, 1943). To date, however, the yields of chlorellin have been relatively small. The present study was undertaken, therefore, to ascertain the course of accumulation of this antibiotic agent in growing cultures of Chlorella vulgaris with a view to determining the age at which the maximum quantity of the active compound may be obtained from the external solution. MATERIALS AND METHODS.-The organism used in these studies was Chlorella vulgaris. The cells were cultured as described previously (Pratt, 1943) in 500 ml. Florence flasks, each of which contained 300 ml. of nutrient solution. The initial density of population in each culture was 100 cells/cu.mm. At suitable intervals during a period of nearly two months, duplicate cultures were prepared for testing as follows:

Studies on chlorella vulgaris. x. influence of the age of the culture on the accumulation of chlorellin

According to current usage, the term antibiotic designates a product of the metabolism of one micro6rganism that is antagonistic to the continuation of the normal life activities of another micro6rganism when present even in very low concentrations. Since the early literature on antibiosis has been covered extensively (4, 7, 29, 70, 71, 145, 190), we shall dispense with this phase of the subject. The penicillins owe their outstanding therapeutic position to the fact that they exert a strong selective action against certain types of bacteria in concentrations far below those required to produce appreciable effects on animal tissues. They may be considered virtually non-toxic. The activity, A, of an antiseptic may be expressed in terms of the maximum volume (in ml) of broth in which 1 gram of compound will inhibit the growth of a test organism; and the toxicity, T, may be expressed as the maximum weight (in g) of some suitable laboratory animal that can be killed by injection of a like quantity of the same compound. The ratio, A/T, may be used as an index of relative activity and toxicity. According to this system, a large number indicates relatively low toxicity and a small number relatively high toxicity in comparison with activity. Using Staphylococcus aureu as the test pathogen and adult mice (20 g each, injected intraperitoneally) as test animals, the A/T ratio has been found to be 3 for anemonin, a very toxic compound, 100 for sulfathiazole, and greater than 100,000 for penicillin (28). The virtual lack of toxicity of penicillin was recognized at an early date when it was shown in 1944 that any toxicity of purified penicillin salts could very likely be attributed to the cation. It was found that the toxicity of the sodium, ammonium, strontium, calcium, magnesium and potassium salts of penicillin ranked in the same order as that of the acetates, which have a non-toxic anion (198). The only unfavorable physiological effects that have been reported, apart from the urticaria that occasionally develops in sensitive individuals, are delayed clotting of blood (69a, 123), the precipitation of convulsions following intrathecal injection (192), and partial inhibition of phagocytosis (197). With regard to the first of these observations, however, it should be pointed out that a contradictory report has been published, i.e., that penicillin accelerates clotting

Robertson Pratt

Papers

Fluorescence of powdered vegetable drugs with particular reference to development of a system of identification.

Chlorellin, an antibacterial substance from chlorella

Report on antibiotic activity of seaweed extracts

Studies on chlorella vulgaris. x. influence of the age of the culture on the accumulation of chlorellin

Cytochemical interpretation of the mechanism of penicillin action.