Chlamydomonas reinhardtii is a single cell green alga that can grow photoautotrophically in mineral medium or chemoheterotrophically in mineral medium supplemented with acetate. These low nutritional requirements and versatile energy metabolism equip it to grow in diverse environments, such as soil, freshwater, and seawater.
a. Design an experiment to compare the chemotrophic and phototrophic growth of C. reinhardtii using mineral medium. What culturing conditions (i.e. chemicals and light) will be needed for each?
b. Identify any controls you will need.
c. How many replicates would you need for each experimental group (treatment and controls)?
d. Draw a hypothetical graph of your results, illustrating growth in the photoautotrophic and chemoautotrophic cultures and the controls. The y-axis should be the OD-reading and the x-axis should be time.
