Desmodesmus communis

History of Receipt and Isolation

• Country of origin: Republic of Kazakhstan.
• Place of isolation: Aktau, industrial zone of the oil refinery, production units, sampling point M-4 (at the outlet of the production units)
• Habitat: Oil-contaminated wastewater
• Isolator(s): Zayadan B.K., Dauletova A.A., Bolatkhan K. at the Biotechnology Laboratory of Al-Farabi Kazakh National University
• Year of accession to the collection: 2024.
• Method of obtainment: isolated from an enrichment culture obtained from a natural sample by sequential microbiological streaking on solid mineral medium
• Genetic features: Wild type (WT)
• Culture condition: Axenic.

Morphology and Structure

Obligately colonial unicellular eukaryotic organism (green microalga). It forms flat, non-overlapping colonies called coenobia, consisting of 2, 4, or 8 (rarely 16) cells arranged in one or two rows and tightly joined by their lateral walls. Cells are ellipsoidal, oval, or elongated-cylindrical with rounded poles. Flagella are absent. The outer cells of the coenobium bear long, slightly curved spines (needles) at their poles. Individual cell dimensions range from 8 to 20 µm in length and 4 to 8 µm in width. According to the classification, the strain belongs to the group of medium-sized microorganisms (2–20 µm).

Cultivation

• culture medium: BG-11 medium
• temperature: 22–26 °C
• light intensity: 60–100 µmol photons/m²/s
• photoperiod: 16 h light / 8 h darkness
• pH of the medium: 6.8–7.5

Physiological Characteristics

Halotolerant.

Long-term Preservation Conditions

maintained as a subculture on liquid and 1.5–2.0% agarized mineral BG-11 medium. Storage temperature is +4…+8 °C (for refrigerator storage) or +12…+15 °C, light intensity is minimal (5–10 µmol photons/m²/s), and the photoperiod is 12:12 h (light/dark) or maintained in the dark. Subculturing of the collection culture is performed every 3–4 months.

Genetic Information

GenBank Accession №PZ705281

Field of Application

Utilized in fundamental research and biotechnology.