Changes in the levels of ribulose-l,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (rubisco) in tetraedron minimum (chlorophyta) during light and shade adaptation

Tamar Fisher, Revital Shurtz-swirski, Shimon Gepstein, Zvy Dubinsky

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

Exponentially growing cultures of the chlorophyta Tetraedron minimum were allowed to photoadapt to low (50μmole quanta m-2s-1) and high (500μmole quanta m-2-1) irradiance levels. In these cultures, various aspects of the organization of the photosynthetic apparatus and related differences in its performance were studied.In this organism, the observed five-fold increase in pigmentation of low-light adapted cells was due to increases in the numbers of PSU's, while their sizes remained constant.Using radioimmunoassay technique, we found that high-light adapted algae had over five times more Rubisco per PSU than their low-light adapted counterparts.The high-light adapted algae also exhibited far higher (×2.3) light saturated photosynthetic rates per chl a. This increase was the result of a reduction of tau, τ, the turnover time of PS II reaction centers.We propose that the increase in Rubisco per PSU in high-light adapted algae explains the reduction in τ, which results in the higher Pmax rates per chl a in these algae.The relationship is non linear, since the increase in Rubisco per PSU was ×5.3 whereas that in PmM per chl a was only ×2.3.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)221-228
Number of pages8
JournalPlant and Cell Physiology
Volume30
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Mar 1989

Keywords

  • Photoadaptation
  • Photosynthesis
  • Phytoplankton
  • Rubisco
  • Tetraedron minimum

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