Picocystis Salinarum

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Context

• A young researcher has divulged the secret of how Picocystis Salinarum survives the harshest of conditions.

Picocystis

• Picocystis is a monotypic genus of green algae.
• The sole species of this genus is Picocystis salinarum.
• It is placed within its own class, Picocystophyceae in the division Chlorophyta.

Structure

• Picocystis salinarum cells under normal conditions have a spherical or oval shape.
• Their size ranges from 2 to 3μm in diameter.
• Under conditions of nutrient depletion, they appear to form a trillobe shape.
• The pigments are composed mainly from chlorophyll a and b and the carotenoids violaxanthin, alloxanthin, monadoxanthin, neoxanthin, lutein, diatoxanthin and zeaxanthin.
• The cell wall is mainly composed of polymers of the monosaccharide arabinose,

Habitat

• The species have been found in saline or hypersaline alkaline environments.
• Picocystis Salinarum survives the harshest of conditions by resorting to physiological adaptation to highly saline-alkaline/hyperosmotic conditions.

Detection in India

• salinarum was found in hypersaline soda lake Sambhar, Rajasthan, to survive extreme environments.
• Though the alga had been widely found in saline-soda lakes around the world, it was spotted for the first time in India only in the Sambhar Lake.

Adaptation

• The unique organism apparently enhances photosynthesis and ATP synthesis along with chaperone proteins as key response to high salinity-alkalinity.
• Enhanced photosynthetic activity exhibited by P. salinarum in highly saline-alkaline condition is noteworthy as photosynthesis is suppressed under hyperosmotic conditions in most photosynthetic organisms.