(62e) Single-Cell Growth Kinetics of Algae, Chlorela Vulgaris

Single-cell growth kinetics of algae, Chlorela vulgaris

Alim
Dewan, Jihye
Kim, Swastika S. Bithi, Marci Kerls, Siva A.
Vanapalli, M. Nazmul Karim*

Department
of Chemical Engineering, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas 79409, USA.

*E-mail: naz.karim@ttu.edu

Abstract

Traditionally,
the growth kinetics of algae is investigated using cell culture equipment that
contains large number of cells.  The kinetic parameters are measured from
representative samples of the cell culture and the measured parameters
represent the statistical average of all the cells in the samples. In this
study, we have investigated the growth kinetics of single-cell of Chlorella
vulgaris using droplet based PDMS microfluidic chip. The kinetic parameters
were determined by counting the total number of cells under investigation
during the entire period of the experiment. We found that there is significant
heterogeneity in the growth and size of single cells and kinetic parameters are
different even if the initial cell numbers are the same. We found that there
is significant heterogeneity in the growth and size of single cells and kinetic
parameters are different even if the initial cell numbers are the same. Figure
1exmplifies the heterogeneity of single-cell growth kinetics. We hypothesize
that the heterogeneity occurs due to the difference in initial cell conditions
such as the age of the cell, and the size.  

Figure1.
Example of single-cell growth curves. Inset shows the initial cell number (N_o),
final cell number (N_t) and the specific growth rate (µ).