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The effect of lanthanides on photosynthesis, growth, and chlorophyll profile of the green alga Desmodesmus quadricauda

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Abstract

Lanthanides (La, Gd, Nd, Ce) accumulated in the green alga Desmodesmus quadricauda but their intracellular localizations were distinctly different: lanthanum and gadolinium were localized in cytoplasm, while neodymium and cerium were in the chloroplast. The effect of lanthanum and neodymium, as representatives of these two groups, on growth, chlorophyll content and photosynthetic rate at different light intensities was studied. At the lowest light intensity used (50 µmol photons m−2 s−1), in the presence of lanthanides (Nd), growth was enhanced by as much as 36 % over lanthanide free control, and the photosynthetic rate increased by up to 300 %. At high light intensities (238, 460, and 750 µmol photons m−2 s−1), photosynthetic rate increased markedly, but there was no significant difference between rates in the presence or absence of lanthanides. However, growth, measured as a percentage of dry weight, if compared with lanthanide free control, increased at all light intensities (31, 39, and 20 %, respectively). The total amount of chlorophyll after lanthanide treatment increased by up to 21 % relative to the control culture, mainly due to an increase in the level of chlorophyll b. Addition of lanthanides caused a change in the chlorophyll a/b ratio from 4.583 in control cultivation, to 1.05. Possible mechanisms of lanthanide-induced photosynthetic change, alterations in photosynthetic structures, and increases in growth are discussed and compared with findings in higher plants. The hypothesis that the lanthanide effect could be due to formation of lanthanide-pheophytins was not confirmed as lanthanide pheophytins were not found in D. quadricauda. Furthermore, we have shown that the preferential incorporation of heavy isotopes of magnesium, namely 25Mg and 26Mg, into chlorophyll during photosynthesis that occurred in controls was diminished in the presence of lanthanides.

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Abbreviations

Chl:

Chlorophyll

DW:

Dry weight

ESI:

Electrospray ionization

HILIC:

Hydrophilic interaction liquid chromatography

HPLC:

High-pressure liquid chromatography

HRMS:

High-resolution-mass spectrometry

ICP MS:

Inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

LC-MS:

Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry

MALDI-TOF-MS:

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time of flight mass spectrometry

NLS:

Neutral loss scan

PS I:

Photosystem I

PS II:

Photosystem II

REE:

Rare earth element

Rubisco:

Ribuloso-1,5-biphosphate carboxylase oxygenase

TIC:

Total ion current

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Project LO1201 and LO1416 obtained through financial support of the Ministry of Education, Youth and Sports in the targeted framework of the National Programme for Sustainability, by the Grant Agency of the Czech Republic P 503 14–00227S and Institutional Research Concept RVO61388971.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Microbiology of the CAS, Vídeňská 1083, 14220, Prague, Czech Republic

    Tomáš Řezanka

  2. Medical and Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, IMC University of Applied Sciences Krems, Piaristengasse1, A-3500, Krems an der Donau, Austria

    Katrin Kaineder & Dana Mezricky

  3. Institute for Nanomaterials, Advanced Technologies and Innovation, Technical University of Liberec, Studentská 1402/2, 46117, Liberec, Czech Republic

    Michal Řezanka

  4. Laboratory of Cell Cycles of Algae, Centre Algatech, Institute of Microbiology of the CAS, Novohradská 237, Třeboň, 379 81, Czech Republic

    Kateřina Bišová, Vilém Zachleder & Milada Vítová

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  1. Tomáš Řezanka
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  2. Katrin Kaineder
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Correspondence to Milada Vítová.

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The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. All the authors agree with the submission of the manuscript to Photosynthesis Research. The research does not involve any human participants and/or animals.

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Řezanka, T., Kaineder, K., Mezricky, D. et al. The effect of lanthanides on photosynthesis, growth, and chlorophyll profile of the green alga Desmodesmus quadricauda . Photosynth Res 130, 335–346 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11120-016-0263-9

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