Effects of illumination and inhibitors on the retention of intracellular glycerol in Dunaliella tertiolecta

When Dunaliella tertiolecta cells were incubated in a 0.5M NaCl medium at 25℃ in the dark, the cell volume gradually decreased and the intracellular glycerol leaked out from cells. The application of 10μM of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1,-dimethylurea (DCMU) did not affect the retention of intracellular glycerol, although the application severely inhibited activities of photosynthesis and respiration in D. tertiolecta. N, N\u27-dicyclohexylcarbodiimide (DCCD) at 10μM or vanadate at 100μM severely inhibited activities of photosynthesis and respiration in D. tertiolecta as well as DCMU or sodium azide at 1mM. However, different from DCMU or sodium azide, the application of DCCD or vanadate caused the leakage of intracellular glycerol. These results imply that activities of membrane-bound ATPases play an important role for the retention of intracellular glycerol, and also that the incubation in the dark for a few days might cause some changes in integrity of plasma membrane or interfere of membrane-bound ATPase activities, resulting in the leakage of intracellular glycerol