Quantitative Determination of Ascorbate from the Green Alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by HPLC

Ascorbate (Asc, also called vitamin C) is of vital i mportance to the cellular functions of both animals and plants. During evolution, Asc has become one of the most abundant metabolites in seed plants; however, Asc contents in cyanobacteria, green algae and bryophytes are very low. Here we describe a sensit ive and reliable HPLC method for the quantitative determination of cellular Asc content in the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii.