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Effects of elevated CO2 and nitrogen supply on the growth and photosynthetic physiology of a marine cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. PCC7002

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Abstract

Ocean acidification due to increasing atmospheric CO2 concentration and coastal eutrophication are growing global threats to affect marine organisms and ecosystem health. However, little is known about their interactive impacts on marine picocyanobacteria which contribute to a large proportion of primary production. In this study, we cultivated the cyanobacterium Synechococcus sp. PCC7002 at ambient (380 ppmv) and high CO2 (1000 ppmv), across a range of nitrogen levels (LN, 10 μM NO3 −; MN, 35 μM NO3 −; HN, 110 μM NO3 −). In LN media, elevated CO2 significantly decreased cellular chlorophyll a, but insignificantly affected growth rate, photosynthetic efficiency (F v /F m ) and maximum relative electron transport rate (rETRmax). Nitrogen (N)-supply positively increased the growth, F v /F m , dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and cellular carotenoids/Chl a ratios, but decreased the rETRmax in both ambient and elevated CO2 conditions. The cellular C/N ratios were significantly increased by either elevated CO2 or N-supply, and the cell size was significantly enhanced by elevated CO2, not by N-supply. In addition, we found the N-supply alone had no significant effects on the four main components of chromophoric dissolved organic matter (cDOM) in ambient CO2, while the N-supply interacted with elevated CO2 significantly decreasing the cDOM contents in the cultures. Our results indicated that elevated CO2 and N-supply interacted to alter the physiology and cellular biochemistry of Synechococcus sp. PCC7002, providing useful information for understanding the environmental adaptability of Synechococcus to coastal ocean acidification and eutrophication.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Richard B. Rivkin and Yonghui Zeng for their valuable suggestions and help with English. This work was supported by the National Key Research and Development Program of China (2016YFA0601402), China SOA grant associated with task (GASI-03-01-02-05), CNOOC Tianjin Branch (CNOOC-KJ 125 FZDXM 00TJ 001-2014), Key R & D projects in Shandong Province (2015GGF01014), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (41606092, 41606153, 41676156). This study is a contribution to the international IMBER project.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Center for Marine Biology and Carbon Sequestration, Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Energy Genetics, Qingdao Institute of Bioenergy and Bioprocess Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao, 266101, China

    Shanli Mou, Yongyu Zhang, Gang Li, Hongmei Li, Yantao Liang & Lili Tang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science, Institute of Marine Microbes and Ecospheres, Xiamen University Xiang’an, Xiamen, 361102, China

    Yongyu Zhang & Nianzhi Jiao

  3. State Key Laboratory of Marine Geology, Tongji University, Shanghai, 200092, China

    Jianchang Tao & Chuanlun Zhang

  4. Tianjin Branch of China National Offshore Oil Corporation Ltd, Tianjin, 300450, China

    Jianjun Xu & Jia Li

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  1. Shanli Mou
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  3. Gang Li
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  11. Nianzhi Jiao
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Correspondence to Yongyu Zhang or Nianzhi Jiao.

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Mou, S., Zhang, Y., Li, G. et al. Effects of elevated CO2 and nitrogen supply on the growth and photosynthetic physiology of a marine cyanobacterium, Synechococcus sp. PCC7002. J Appl Phycol 29, 1755–1763 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-017-1089-3

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