Ion Absorption and Retention by Chlorella pyrenoidosa. III. Selective Accumulation of Rubidium, Potassium and Sodium.

The selective preference of Chlorella pyrenoidosa for alkali metal cations was found to have the order Rb > K > > > Na. It was demonstrated that a cation of higher preference can replace in the cell cations of lower preference by an ion interchange process.The replacement of Na from the cell by K or Rb occurred against high external Na concentrations up to 450 meq/1 Na.It is suggested that the structural selectivity of the Chlorella cell may be amplified by a chromatographic type repetitive selection process, driven by metabolically dependent unsymmetric shape changes of cellular membranes.