Fig. 6: Retention of the accumulated *P_i by live, pre-labelled Synechococcus sp. WH8102 cells.

Minor removal of P_i label was achieved by the following treatments: ASW, cells washed with artificial seawater; -Ca²⁺, cells washed with ASW without Ca²⁺; EDTA, cells washed with isotonic NaCl solution containing EDTA; pH 6 and pH 10, cells washed with ASW at pH 6 and at pH 10, respectively; Lyso and Prot K, cells incubated with lysozyme and Proteinase K, respectively for 15 min; SAP, cells incubated with shrimp alkaline phosphatase for 30 min; Pluronic and Triton, cells incubated with the surfactants Pluronic F-68 and Triton X-100, respectively, for 15 min. A short wash with deionized water (DW) removed about 40% of the P_i label. The plot summarizes the results of the representative experiments. Bars present mean values of technical duplicates indicated as crosses. Horizontal grey lines indicate major ticks of the Y-axis to assist comparisons. For details, refer to Supplementary Tables 5 and 6. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.