Elemental and macromolecular composition of the marine Chloropicophyceae, a major group of oceanic photosynthetic picoeukaryotes

Chloropicophyceae (Prasinophyte Clade VII) are small nonmotile coccoid cells with cell diameters ranging from 1 to 3 μm. Molecular surveys indicate they are relatively high in abundance in moderately oligotrophic oceanic waters and may substantively contribute to biogeochemical cycling in the sea. Here, we quantify the elemental and macromolecular composition of three subtropical Chloropicophyceae strains: Chloropicon mariensis, Chloropicon maureeniae, and Chloropicon roscoffensis under nutrient-sufficient exponential growth and nitrate starvation. Under nutrient-sufficient conditions the Chloropicophyceae are high in C : N and quite low in C : P and N : P relative to the canonical Redfield ratio, reflecting their relatively high nucleic acid composition compared to many other phytoplankton taxa. Nitrate starvation causes increases in C : N and C : P and decreases in N : P, primarily due to increases in carbohydrate and lipid and decreases in protein and RNA. There is genetic evidence that unlike most other green algae, Chloropicophyceae are diploid. The high nucleic acid content in the Chloropicon is consistent with the hypothesis that the nucleus, as a nonscalable component, takes up a larger and substantial proportion of cell mass in diploid picoeukaryotes. The elemental and macromolecular composition of these Chloropicophyceae, and relatively homeostatic response to N-starvation compared to diatoms, provides some insight into their success in the moderately oligotrophic ocean.