TY - JOUR
T1 - Photo-protection in the centric diatom Coscinodiscus granii is not controlled by chloroplast high-light avoidance movement
AU - Gössling, Johannes Wilhelm
AU - Sousa Dias Cartaxana, Paulo Jorge
AU - Kühl, Michael
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Diatoms are important phototrophs in the worlds' oceans contributing ~40% of the global primary photosynthetic production. This is partially explained by their capacity to exploit environments with variable light conditions, but there is limited knowledge on how diatoms cope with changes in the spectral composition and intensity of light. In this study, the influence of light quality and high irradiance on photosynthesis in the centric diatom Coscinodiscus granii was investigated with microscopic imaging and variable chlorophyll fluorescence techniques. Determination of the wavelength-dependent functional absorption cross-section of photosystem (PS) II revealed that absorption of blue light (BL) and red light (RL) was 2.3- and 0.8-fold that of white light (WL), respectively. Hence, BL was more efficiently converted into photo-chemical energy. Excessive energy from BL was dissipated via non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) mechanisms, while RL apparently induced only negligible NPQ even at high irradiance. A dose dependent increase of cells exhibiting an altered chloroplast distribution was observed after exposure to high levels of BL and WL, but not RL. However, no effective quantum yield of PSII was measured in the majority of cells with an altered chloroplast distribution, and positive Sytox green® death staining confirmed that most of these cells were dead. We conclude that although C. granii can sustain high irradiance it does not perform chloroplast high-light avoidance movements for photo-protection.
AB - Diatoms are important phototrophs in the worlds' oceans contributing ~40% of the global primary photosynthetic production. This is partially explained by their capacity to exploit environments with variable light conditions, but there is limited knowledge on how diatoms cope with changes in the spectral composition and intensity of light. In this study, the influence of light quality and high irradiance on photosynthesis in the centric diatom Coscinodiscus granii was investigated with microscopic imaging and variable chlorophyll fluorescence techniques. Determination of the wavelength-dependent functional absorption cross-section of photosystem (PS) II revealed that absorption of blue light (BL) and red light (RL) was 2.3- and 0.8-fold that of white light (WL), respectively. Hence, BL was more efficiently converted into photo-chemical energy. Excessive energy from BL was dissipated via non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) mechanisms, while RL apparently induced only negligible NPQ even at high irradiance. A dose dependent increase of cells exhibiting an altered chloroplast distribution was observed after exposure to high levels of BL and WL, but not RL. However, no effective quantum yield of PSII was measured in the majority of cells with an altered chloroplast distribution, and positive Sytox green® death staining confirmed that most of these cells were dead. We conclude that although C. granii can sustain high irradiance it does not perform chloroplast high-light avoidance movements for photo-protection.
U2 - 10.3389/fmars.2015.00115
DO - 10.3389/fmars.2015.00115
M3 - Journal article
SN - 2296-7745
VL - 2
JO - Frontiers in Marine Science
JF - Frontiers in Marine Science
M1 - 115
ER -