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The slow-phase of chlorophyll fluorescence induction curve reflects the electron transport rates of Photosystem II in vivo in Chlorella vulgaris

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Abstract

Ideally methods and parameters to assess photosynthesis in the microalga Chlorella vulgaris must be rapid, non-invasive, accurate, and simple to implement. Methods such as the Quantum Yield of photosynthesis (ϕPo or Fv/Fm) yield rapid results but do not reflect the actual electron turnover of PSII (ETRII). Alternatively, methods that calculate ETRII take several minutes to execute, require expensive instrumentation, and manual input. In this work, we describe a method to estimate ETRII in real-time via predictive statistic modelling. This method utilises the Kautsky induction curve and a low-cost chlorophyll a fluorometer. Our model optimises the fit of linear regressions between the normalized fluorescence intensity after Fm (named SETR) and ETRII measurements using traditional methods. This allows for an estimation of ETRII in real-time through Kautsky induction curves alone. SETR can then be used as a faster alternative to quenching analysis to determine bioenergetics performance during steady state and can be assessed with any chlorophyll fluorometer capable of measuring the Kautsky induction curve. The SETR parameter allows for a high-throughput and high-resolution assessment of photosynthesis while being non-invasive, having lower production costs, and with lower technical requirements. Furthermore, the biophysical bases of the method are discussed.

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Data availability

Data in this work it is available on reasonable request, please contact HB at Harvey.bates@student.uts.edu.au or AZ alonso.zavaleta@anu.edu.au.

Code availability

Code available on reasonable request, please contact HB at Harvey.bates@student.uts.edu.au.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Dr. Andrei Herdean for proofreading this manuscript. We also thank Mr. Paul Brooks and Mr. Scott Allchin for organizing and maintaining the workspace for the experiment.

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Author notes

  1. Milán Szabó

    Present address: Brock University, Saint Catherines, Canada

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Climate Change Cluster, University of Technology Sydney, Sydney, Australia

    Harvey Bates, Alonso Zavafer, Milán Szabó & Peter J. Ralph

  2. Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

    Alonso Zavafer

  3. Brock University, Saint Catherines, Canada

    Alonso Zavafer

  4. Institute of Plant Biology, Biological Research Centre, Eötvös Loránd Research Network, Szeged, Hungary

    Milán Szabó

Authors
  1. Harvey Bates
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  2. Alonso Zavafer
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  3. Milán Szabó
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  4. Peter J. Ralph
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Contributions

All authors conceived the presented ideas, discussed the results, and contributed to the final manuscript. A.Z and P.R encouraged H.B to investigate combined OJIP and electron transport rate estimation. H.B carried out the analytical methods and developed the rapid electron transport rate method in consultation with P.R, A.Z and M.S.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alonso Zavafer.

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The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

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Bates, H., Zavafer, A., Szabó, M. et al. The slow-phase of chlorophyll fluorescence induction curve reflects the electron transport rates of Photosystem II in vivo in Chlorella vulgaris. J Appl Phycol 35, 109–116 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10811-022-02890-0

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