The physiology and biochemistry of zooxanthellae symbiotic with marine coelenterates. II. liberation of fixed 14C by zooxanthellae in vitro

Freshly isolated zooxanthellae from a wide range of marine coelenterates liberated soluble organic 14C to the medium when incubated in the light in NaH14CO3 for 30 to 120 min. Most algae released [14C]glycerol as the major extracellular product. Other 14C-labelled compounds liberated were alanine, glucose, fumaric acid, succinic acid, glycolic acid and two other unidentified organic acids. Evidence provided demonstrates that extracellular products are not produced as a result of lysis of the algae.