The effect of different light regimes on pigments in Coscinodiscus granii

Abstract

The influence of six different light regimes throughout the photosynthetically active radiation range (from 400 to 700 nm, including blue, green, yellow, red-orange, red, and white) at two intensities (100 and 300 µmol photons m⁻² s⁻¹) on pigmentation was assessed for the centric marine diatom Coscinodiscus granii for the first time. Chlorophyll (Chl) a and fucoxanthin were the dominating pigments in all treatments. The cellular concentrations of light harvesting pigment (Chl a, Chl c1 + c2, and fucoxanthin) were higher at 100 than at 300 µmol photons m⁻² s⁻¹ at all wavelengths, with the largest increases at red and blue light. The normalized concentrations of photoprotective pigments (violaxanthin, zeaxanthin, diadinoxanthin, and diatoxanthin) were higher at high light intensity than in cells grown at low light intensity. An increase in β-carotene in low light conditions is expected as the increased Chl a was related to increased photosynthetic subunits which require β-carotene (bound to photosystem core). At 300 µmol photons m⁻² s⁻¹, yellow light resulted in significantly lower concentration of most of the detected pigments than the other wavelengths. At 100 µmol photons m⁻² s⁻¹, W and B light led to statistically lower and higher concentration of most of the detected pigments than the other wavelengths, respectively.