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Chromatic regulation inChlamydomonas reinhardtii alters photosystem stoichiometry and improves the quantum efficiency of photosynthesis

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Abstract

The work addressed the adjustment of the photosystem ratio in the green algaChlamydomonas reinhardtii. It is shown that green algae, much like cyanophytes and higher plants, adjust and optimize the ratio of the two photosystems in chloroplasts in response to the quality of irradiance during growth. Such adjustments are compensation reactions and helpC. reinhardtii to retain a quantum efficiency of oxygen evolution near the theoretical maximum. Results show variable amounts of PS I and a fairly constant amount of PS II in chloroplasts and suggest that photosystem stoichiometry adjustments, occurring in response to the quality of irradiance during plant growth, are mainly an adjustment in the concentration of PS I. The work delineates chromatic effects on chlorophyll accumulation in the chloroplast ofC. reinhardtii from those pertaining to the regulation of the PS I/PS II ratio. The detection of the operation of a molecular feedback mechanism for the PS I/PS II ratio adjustment in green algae strengthens the notion of the highly conserved nature of this mechanism among probably all oxygen evolving photosynthetic organisms. Findings in this work are expected to serve as the basis of future biochemical and mutagenesis experiments for the elucidation of the photosystem ratio adjustment in oxygenic photosynthesis.

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Abbreviations

Chl:

chlorophyll

PS:

photosystem

LHC:

light-harvesting complex

QA :

primary electronaccepting plastoquinone of PS II

Pchlide:

protochlorophyllide

Proto:

protoporphyrin

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Author notes

  1. Yoshihiko Fujita

    Present address: Graduate School of Marine Bioscience, Fukui Prefectural University, Gakuen-cho, 917, Obama, Fukui, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Plant Biology, University of California, 94720-3102, Berkeley, CA, USA

    Anastasios Melis, Jeff A. Nemson & Kaori Ohki

  2. Department of Cell Biology, National Institute for Basic Biology, Myodaiji, 444, Okazaki, Aichi, Japan

    Akio Murakami, Katsunori Aizawa & Yoshihiko Fujita

Authors
  1. Anastasios Melis
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  2. Akio Murakami
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  3. Jeff A. Nemson
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  4. Katsunori Aizawa
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  5. Kaori Ohki
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  6. Yoshihiko Fujita
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Melis, A., Murakami, A., Nemson, J.A. et al. Chromatic regulation inChlamydomonas reinhardtii alters photosystem stoichiometry and improves the quantum efficiency of photosynthesis. Photosynth Res 47, 253–265 (1996). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02184286

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02184286

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