Abstract
This study aims to assess the influence of growth and culture conditions of the Euglena gracilis protist on the cellular chemical composition. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR) and direct infusion Orbitrap electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) were used in tandem for confirmation of functional groups, and to decipher the normalized percentage abundances of compound classes, molecular species, and aromaticity and oxygenation within each growth condition. Abundances of molecular species and compound classes varied with growth and culture conditions. No major differences in the qualitative FT-IR-based screening of functional groups were found between growth conditions. This contrasts with ESI-MS-based results where polyphenols, carbohydrate, and condensed aromatic compounds were the most abundant in dark-grown conditions with glucose supplementation, revealing the differences in physiological states of the cell in different growth conditions. Dark-grown conditions promoted CHO molecular species while light-grown conditions favored CHON, CHOS, and CHONS molecular species. The dark-grown exponential E. gracilis cells grown in glucose-supplemented media showed the greatest normalized abundances of aromatics, carbohydrate, polyphenols, and protein, which are compound classes typically involved in metal binding.
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Acknowledgments
We wish to acknowledge Philip Siambi (Noblegen) for guidance in cell culture and growth techniques, Dr. Jean-François Koprivnjak for assistance with lyophilizing cells, and Dr. Naomi L. Stock (Trent Water Quality Centre) for technical guidance on the mass spectrometer. The Editor and two anonymous reviewers are acknowledged for their helpful comments and suggestions that helped improve the quality of the manuscript.
Funding
This study received financial support from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (College and Community Innovation Program) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.
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Figure S1
Growth curves of Euglena gracilis cells grown in (A) dark and (B) light conditions. The values were the average of duplicate measurements. Samples were collected at the exponential and stationary phases of growth. The dotted line represents the glucose supplementation culture (PPTX 44 kb)
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Lewis, A., Guéguen, C. How growth conditions of Euglena gracilis cells influence cellular composition as evidenced by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and direct infusion high-resolution mass spectrometry. J Appl Phycol 32, 153–163 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-019-01929-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-019-01929-z