The gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method was used to identify unusual medium-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in the snow alga Chloromonas brevispina collected in 2006 from surface layers of a snow field with conspicuous green patches in Bohemian Forest (Czech Republic). PUFAs formed more than 75% total fatty acids. Among them, mass spectroscopy of picolinyl esters showed sizable proportions of medium-chain PUFA, e.g., 5,8,11-tetradecatrienoic and 6,9,12-pentadecatrienoic acids. The high relative content of PUFA indicates that PUFA are an important element ensuring cell survival. Our report appears to be the first to describe the presence of short- and medium-chain PUFAs in green psychrophilic algae of the genus Chloromonas.

Institute of Microbiology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Prague Czech Republic

References provided by Crossref.org

Ecophysiological and ultrastructural characterisation of the circumpolar orange snow alga Sanguina aurantia compared to the cosmopolitan red snow alga Sanguina nivaloides (Chlorophyta)

Ecophysiological and morphological comparison of two populations of Chlainomonas sp. (Chlorophyta) causing red snow on ice-covered lakes in the High Tatras and Austrian Alps

Chloromonas nivalis subsp. tatrae, subsp. nov. (Chlamydomonadales, Chlorophyta): re-examination of a snow alga from the High Tatra Mountains (Slovakia)

Identity, ecology and ecophysiology of planktic green algae dominating in ice-covered lakes on James Ross Island (northeastern Antarctic Peninsula)

Chlorella mirabilis as a Potential Species for Biomass Production in Low-Temperature Environment