A biological study of the cellular response to heat stress in the South African alga Gracilaria gracilis

Gracilaria gracilis is a commercially important alga, previously harvested from the wild South African population in Saldanha Bay as a feed for marine organisms and as a source of commercially important agar. Since 1974 however, a number of sporadic population collapses has lead to the destruction of this once flourishing resource. After numerous failed attempts at re-establishing this industry, the need to develop an alternative farming strategy became evident. In order to devise such a solution, a better understanding of the tolerances and responses of this alga to the environmental parameters responsible for the downfall of the population is required. Although the exact reasons remain unclear, Jaffray et al., 1997 have reported that increased water temperature in Saldanha Bay may be a contributing factor as the population collapses have repeatedly occurred during summer months. Thus the effect of heat stress on G. gracilis has been selected for this study.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Molecular and Cell Biology

Year dc:date.issued

2012

Author dc:creator

• Boom, Taryn

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Coyne, Vernon
• Rafudeen, Suhail

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10105

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/10105