Fig 1.
Cells of Apatococcus lobatus (strain PN003/1.1).
a) cells growing in aqueous BBM (Light Microscope view); b) cells growing aerophytically on a BBM agar slant (Light Microscope view); c) cells growing aerophytically in SEM view; d) chloroplasts inside cells (3-D Confocal Laser Microscope view)
Fig 2.
Electrodynamic and hydrodynamic characteristics of AgNP.
a) Zeta potential of AgNP at different pH; b) DLS of AgNP.
Fig 3.
Digital imaging of the changes in A. lobatus chloroplasts under AgNP exposure (20 ppm); cross-sections in 3-D were performed using the Leica TCS SP8 Confocal Laser Microscope and the LAS-AF 3.3.0.10134 software.
a) control samples; b) chloroplasts after 1 hour of AgNP exposure; c) chloroplasts after 24 hours of AgNP exposure; d) chloroplasts after 1 week of AgNP exposure.
Table 1.
The photosynthetic activity inhibition ratio (RIAph) and the growth inhibition ratio (RIg) of the A. lobatus cells treated with AgNP concentrations at every hour/day of the experiment and the concurrent chlorophyll fluorescence intensity (chlFI) and biomass (B) of the control cells; the statistical significance at the 0.05 level.
Fig 4.
Extinction of chlorophyll fluorescence emission in the A. lobatus cells treated with AgNP concentrations.
The digital images were captured every hour/day of the experiment using the Leica TCS SP8 Confocal Laser Microscope.
Fig 5.
The range of chlorophyll fluorescence intensity of A. lobatus cells under AgNP exposure; the fluorescence was measured using the Leica TCS SP8 Confocal Laser Microscope equipped with WLL of 488 nm.
Fig 6.
The biomass of A. lobatus cells under AgNP exposure; the biomass was expressed using chl a concentration.
Table 2.
Percentage of the growing inhibition rate and the biocidal effect of AgNP against aerophytic algal cells after 14 days of AgNP exposure.