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Homeostasis of cell composition during prolonged darkness
Author(s) -
MONTECHIARO FEDERICO,
HIRSCHMUGL CAROL J.,
RAVEN JOHN A.,
GIORDANO MARIO
Publication year - 2006
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.1365-3040.2006.01593.x
Subject(s) - darkness , homeostasis , biology , composition (language) , incubation , oxidizing agent , cell , ecology , botany , microbiology and biotechnology , chemistry , biochemistry , linguistics , philosophy , organic chemistry
The chemical composition of organisms in relation to their environmental resource availability is an area of intense research activity. We studied the changes in cell composition of the cyanobacterium Phormidium autumnale in response to prolonged darkness. Cells allocated their internal resources in a homeostatic manner, oxidizing all the three major cellular constituents in a proportional way. This resulted in constant C/N and carbohydrates, lipids and proteins ratios that remained unaltered throughout the whole incubation period. We propose the maintenance of balanced cell composition (homeostasis) as an evolutionary strategy related to environmental transitory changes.