MadSci Network: General Biology
Query:

Re: Spectrophotmetr setting to test optical density of algae?

Date: Tue Nov 9 09:04:16 2010
Posted By: Shashank Keshavmurthy, Post Doctoral Research Fellow
Area of science: General Biology
ID: 1285764560.Gb
Message:

Hi Cathy!!

Chlorella is a single-celled green algae, which belongs to the phylum Chlorophyta. It is spherical 
in shape, about 2 to 10 μm in diameter, and is without flagella. Chlorella contains the green 
photosynthetic pigments chlorophyll-a and -b in its chloroplast
To measure the OD of Chlorella using spectrophotometer you need to measure chlorophyll  a and 
chlorophyll b since there are the main chlorophyll pigments in Chlorella

Take absorbance measurements of the whole ethanol extract (i hope you will extract the 
pigments from Chlorella using ethanol, at the following wavelengths, using absolute ethanol as 
the blank for zeroing the machine.
663 nm, 645 nm and 750 (measure of turbidity). Make sure that 750 readings are zero...if not 
subtract this reading from 664, 647 and 630 and use those values in the below given equations.. 

Jeffrey and Humphrey's Trichromatic Equations (1975) 

Chlorophyll a: 11.85 X (Abs 664) - 1.54 X (Abs 647) - 0.08 X (Abs 630)
Chlorophyll c: 24.52 X (Abs 630) - 7.60 X (Abs 647) - 1.67 X (Abs 664) 


Lorenzen's (1967) Pheopigment-corrected Chlorophyll a
Chlorophyll a: 26.7 X (Abs 664b - Abs 665a) 

Abs664b: Abs750 – Abs664 before adding 0.1N HCl to the sample 
Abs665a: Abs750 – Abs 665 after adding 0.1N HCl to the sample

Abs 750, Abs664, Abs647, Abs665 and Abs630 are the absorbance read by spectrophotometer

Best of luck
shashank


References:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chlorella

Jeffrey, S.W., G. F. Humphrey. 1975. New spectrophotometric equations for deter- -mining 
chlorophylls a, b, c, and c2 in higher plants, algae and natural phyto- plankton. Biochem. Physiol. 
Pflanz., 167: 191-194.

Lorenzen, C. J. 1967. Determination of chlorophyll and phaeo-pigments: Spectrophoto- metric 
equations. Limnol. Oceanogr., 12:343-346


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