Effect of light and temperature regime on the content of carotenoids in cells oF Chloromonas reticulata (Goroshankin) Gobi

We studied the effect of light and temperature on the content of carotenoids in the cells of the green cryophilic alga Chloromonas reticulata during cultivation in laboratory conditions. We obtained the first information on the amount and composition of the carotenoids of the SYKOA Ch-054-11 strain from the collection of live cultures of algae of the Institute of Biology of the Komi Scientific Center of the Ural Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. In the algal cells the carotenoids profile were β-carotene (precursor to astaxanthin), xanthophylls – neoxanthin and lutein, and the violaxanthin cycle pigments such as violaxanthin, antheraxanthin, zeaxanthin). At light of 500 μM/(m2s) PAR the concentration of carotenoids consisted of 63.5±6.5 μg/ml. At light of 35 μM/(m2s) PAR the carotenoid content in algal cells was lower by factor of 8-fold. The content of photosynthetic carotenoids increased slightly (up to 26.0 μg/ml) with a decrease of temperature from 20 to 10 ° C. The tendency to induce of astaxanthin synthesis at high light was observed.