Uptake of leucine by
Chlorella
symbionts of green hydra
Cells of a Chlorella sp. symbiotic with green hydra were able to take up leucine via a high-affinity transport mechanism after isolation from the symbiosis, and to incorporate sequestered amino acid into protein. The time course of uptake of leucine by Chlorella cells in the intact symbiosis was followed after hydra were fed with nauplii of the brine shrimp Artemia salina that had been labelled with radioactive leucine. Uptake proceeded in two stages, the first more rapid than the second, separated by a short interval in which there was a consistently observed decrease in the amount of radioactivity per cell. Although leucine from Artemia free amino acid pools was accumulated disproportionately by Chlorella cells in symbiosis, this was not sufficient to explain the initial rapid phase of uptake, nor could changes in rate of uptake with time after feeding be explained by changes in properties of the Chlorella cells. Rather, slower uptake in the second phase, and the decrease in amount of radioactivity per cell which preceded it, were probably due to changes in supply of amino acids to the Chlorella cells. Amino acids transported by the same system as leucine caused efflux of accumulated leucine from isolated Chlorella cells when present in high external concentrations. Thus the observed accumulation of radioactivity in symbiosis may have been the difference between unidirectional influx and unidirectional efflux of leucine dependent upon changes in external concentrations of unlabelled amino acids from Artemia or from hydra pools. This is discussed with reference to host control of algal cell division, which has been shown to be dependent upon supply of a ‘division factor’ from host food.