Influence of Growth Conditions upon the Number of Chloroplast DNA Molecules in Euglena gracilis

The number of chloroplast DNA molecules in Euglena gracilis cells was measured by determining the shift in the observed second-order rate constant for the reassociation of125I-labeled chloroplast DNA in the presence of unlabeled total cell DNA. Cells grown to stationary phase in the dark contained 217 molecules of chloroplast DNA. Cells grown to stationary phase in the light in either heterotrophic or autotrophic medium contained 590 and 1014 chloroplast DNA molecules, respectively. The observed second-order rate constant for the reassociation of125I-labeled chloroplast DNA was not significantly altered in the presence of total cell DNA from a heat-bleached mutant, ZHB, which lacks chloroplast DNA. This evidence suggests that there is less than 0.3 of a chloroplast DNA molecule present in the nucleus of Euglena.