A MUTANT OF DUNALIELLA-PARVA CCAP 19/9 LEAKING LARGE AMOUNTS OF GLYCEROL INTO THE MEDIUM

A mutant of the halotolerant green alga Dunaliella parva, which leaks large amounts of intracellular glycerol into the surrounding medium, was isolated. The mutant has potential applications in the commercial production of glycerol on a large scale since there is no need to extract glycerol from the cells. The mutant was compared with the wild type and it was found that, despite the leakage of glycerol, the mutant showed the same growth rate as the wild type. However, when the rates of oxygen evolution and uptake and intracellular starch content between mutant and wild type were compared at high salinity, considerable differences were found.