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Dynamic changes of protoplasmic volume and of fine structure during osmotic adaptation in the intertidal red alga Porphyra umbilicalis
Author(s) -
KNOTH AXEL,
WIENCKE CHRISTIAN
Publication year - 1984
Publication title -
plant, cell and environment
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.646
H-Index - 200
eISSN - 1365-3040
pISSN - 0140-7791
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-3040.1984.tb01564.x
Subject(s) - vacuole , protoplast , protoplasm , osmotic shock , osmotic pressure , osmoregulation , biophysics , porphyra , osmotic concentration , biology , osmotic dehydration , osmosis , contractile vacuole , botany , cytoplasm , algae , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , dehydration , membrane , salinity , ecology , gene
Cells of Porphyra umbilicalis show a biphasic osmotic regulatory response. After transfer from 1 × into 3.5 × artificial seawater medium (osmotic upshock) the protoplasts shrink rapidly, then recover their original size within 3 h and continue to increase over the next 14 d. After retransfer from 3.5 × into 1 × medium (osmotic downshock) the protoplasts swell immediately and then adjust to the normal size in 1 x medium. Parallel to the shrinkage of the protoplasts after osmotic upshocks the plasmalemma at first gets a wavy surface which becomes smooth again during the following adaptation process. Immediately after osmotic upshock the vacuolar volume increases and it decreases drastically after osmotic downshock. After osmotic upshocks only small vacuoles are present at first. In adapted plants, however, the vacuolar system is mainly composed of large vacuoles. The volume of the protoplasm without the vacuoles is regulated osmotically. Parallel to the increase in the vacuolar volume after osmotic upshocks there is an increase in the number of intramembraneous particles on the PF‐face of the tonoplast. This high value is reduced rapidly to the original number after osmotic downshock. The findings are discussed in relation to the function of the vacuoles as compartments of inorganic ion accumulation during osmotic adaptation.