Fig. 1: Characteristics of G. partita cells grown under the presence/absence of light and exogenous glucose.

A Liquid culture of the wild-type G. partita diploid N2 grown in the light (50 μmol photon m⁻² s⁻¹) or dark with or without 100 mM glucose (Glc) in the medium. The cells were repeatedly grown in batch cultures to obtain log-phase cultures steadily adapted to their respective culture conditions. B Micrographs of G. partita cells grown under the three different conditions. Scale bars = 20 μm. C Chlorophyll a content per cell grown under the three different conditions. D Net photosynthetic activity (oxygen evolution rate in the light at 100 μmol photons m⁻² s⁻¹), and E respiratory activity (oxygen consumption rate in the dark) per cell grown under the three different conditions. Net photosynthesis was calculated as gross photosynthesis +|respiration|, assuming that oxygen consumption by respiration in the light is identical to that in the dark. F Growth rate of the cells measured during the logarithmic phase under the three different conditions. Bars represent means ± standard deviations (SD) of results from three (C–E) or four (F) independent cultures, with dots representing individual data points. Bars with the different letters (a versus b) are significantly different, while bars with the same letters (b versus b) are not, based on Tukey’s honestly significant difference test at P < 0.05. The ratio of values in the light without glucose (the photoautotrophic state) to those in the light with glucose (the heterotrophic state) is shown above the bars.