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This study was carried out in order to understand the lipid and biochemical alterations resulting from different nutritional regimes of nitrate and phosphate in Ulva lactuca. The algal thalli cultured in artificial seawater (ASW) showed higher levels of carbohydrates and non-polar lipids and increased phosphatase activities, accompanied by degradation of polar lipids, proteins and pigments. Further, higher levels of lipid hydroperoxides indicated reative oxygen species (ROS)-mediated non-enzymatic lipid peroxidation due to nutritional limitation-induced oxidative stress. Those thalli cultured in ASW supplemented with nitrate showed responses corresponding to nitrate addition, such as an increase in pigments, monogalactosyldiacylglycerols, polyunsaturated fatty acids and nitrate reductase. In addition, these thalli showed partial induction of phosphatases, low phospholipids, and high sulfolipid and 1,2 …