Pigment signatures of some diatoms isolated from China seas

The photosynthetic pigments of 12 species (14 strains) of cultured diatoms from six genera under specific conditions were examined by the HPLC. The diatom genera were Skeletonema, Thalassiosira, Chaetoceros, Nitzschia, Phaeodactylum, and Meuniera. All strains were isolated from China seas and most of them were from the Jiaozhou Bay, China. Fifteen pigments were identified and eight of them were various chlorophyll a derivatives. Chlorophyll a, c(2) and c(1) and the carotenoids fucoxanthin, diadinoxanthin, diatoxanthin and beta, beta-carotene existed in all species. The ratios of each pigment to chlorophyll a were compared with the results in literatures. The pigment ratios of this study generally fall within the ranges reported by the literatures although the maximum ratio of fucoxanthin to chlorophyll a was higher and the ratios of chlorophyll c and diatoxanthin to chlorophyll a were low. The pigment ratios are useful to understanding the pigment signatures of diatoms in the Jiaozhou Bay, China, and to setting up the chemotaxonomic method of phytoplankton in these sea areas.