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. 1980 Oct;66(4):596–599. doi: 10.1104/pp.66.4.596

Thermotropic Properties of Thermophilic, Mesophilic, and Psychrophilic Blue-green Algae

Chang-Hwei Chen 1, Donald S Berns 1
PMCID: PMC440686  PMID: 16661485

Abstract

Thermotropic properties of blue-green algae grown at high, room, and low temperatures in H2O and D2O media were studied by highly sensitive differential scanning microcalorimetry. The thermograms of these organisms contain an endothermal peak in the temperature range of 50 to 70 C with an endothermal heat ranging from 0.14 to 1.91 joules per gram organism. The temperature at which the endothermal peak occurs is comparable with the thermal denaturation temperature of phycocyanin, the major biliprotein isolated from these algae. A good correlation can be found for the relative thermal stability of various organisms with that of the isolated biliproteins. The ability of these algae to resist thermal disruption is correlated with the thermal environments in which these algal cells grow. The thermal stability of normal algae is in the order of thermophile > mesophile > psychrophile. It was found that the deuterated mesophilic algae were less able to resist thermal disruption than ordinary mesophilic algae.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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