The effect of different wavelengths of light on the population growth of mutant and wild type Chlamydomonas rheinhardtii

Abstract

Chlamydomonas rheinhardtii, a unicellular photosynthetic alga, has been previously studied to determine their reproductive rates at varying wavelengths of light. In this study, we proposed to shed light on the effect of different wavelengths of light including red (~620 nm), green (~520 nm) and blue (~450 nm) light on the population growth of C. rheinhardtii in a 12-day period, within a temperature controlled room. Cell counts were performed on Day 0, 4, 7 and 12 in order to determine the cell concentrations. There was no significant difference among populations under different wavelengths.