Differences in staining of the unicellular algae Chlorococcales as a function of algaenan content

Abstract

Algal strains belonging to the Chlorococcales (Chlorophyceae) show significant differences in the extent of staining with the commonly used dye, crystalline violet. This seems to depend on the cell wall composition and on the occurrence of the acetolysis-resistant biopolymer algaenan in the algal cells.Eighteen algal strains were investigated using 24 h staining with 0.2% crystalline violet and it was confirmed that algal strains which did not contain algaenan and had a trilaminar structure in the cell wall showed strong staining ability, while non-algaenan strains were stained very weakly, if at all. The simple method presented here may be helpful to distinguish both kinds of algal strains.