Fig. 1: Phenotypic diversification of H. pluvialis.

a Graphical summary of the traditionary view (left) and the main observation in this study (right). Cells (light green) with two flagella are defined as mobile cells, and bigger round cells (dark green) without flagella are defined as non-mobile cells. Red cells without flagella are defined as non-mobile aplanospores (depicted in dark pink). CR carotenogenic response. b Growth curve and phenotypic dynamics over a 20-day period. The blue line shows the total number of cells, the light green and dark green lines show the number of mobile and non-mobile cells, respectively. The graph shows the mean ± standard deviation of the triplicate values. c A bar chart showing the change in the ratio of mobile (light green) and non-mobile (dark green) phenotypes over a period of 20 days. The graph shows the mean ± standard deviation of the triplicate values. d Images of a culture, artificially enriched for non-mobile cells (left) and a culture, consisting of mobile cells (right). Similar results were observed in four independent experiments. e Microscopic images of non-mobile (left) and mobile cells (right) (Scale bar: 20 μm). This experiment was conducted three times independently and similar results were observed. f The Gaussian Kernel Density curve illustrating the diameter distribution of mobile (light green) and non-mobile (dark green) cells. g The Gaussian Kernel Density curve showing the distribution of diameter on every other day of the growth experiment over a period of 20 days. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.