Accumulation of free amino acids in marine diatom resting cells during rejuvenation

Many diatoms form resting stages under adverse growth conditions. These resting stages are known to rejuvenate once favorable conditions return, and resume vegetative growth after a certain lag period in which no divisions occurred, but what happens during this period remains unclear. Nitrogen uptake and the accumulation of free amino acids in Skeletonema marinoi resting cells during rejuvenation, but before cell division, were studied in laboratory cultures at different light intensities using the 15N-tracer technique. N uptake rate was higher for the rejuvenating cells at the higher light intensity. We hypothesized that the rapid and increasing N uptake at higher irradiance could enable S. marinoi to rebuild and reorganize its cell contents quickly and so dominate subsequent vegetative growth on the surficial sediment. Compared to the logarithmic growth phase and stationary phase, much higher concentrations of glycine (Gly) and histidine (His) were detected in resting cells, and His appeared to be a storage compound in S. marinoi resting cells. Compared to glutamine, glutamate had the higher 15N label enrichment under the light condition, showing a diel variation of N status during the lag period. The 15N labeled urea was detected at 36 h, compared to the urea cycle intermediates ornithine and citrulline at 30 h, indicating that urea was produced as an N reservoir due to the higher nitrogen uptake in the dark, and that the urea cycle was involved in S. marinoi resting cell rejuvenation.