@article {4937, title = {High salt-induced PSI-supercomplex is associated with high CEF and attenuation of state transitions}, journal = {Photosynthesis Research}, volume = {157}, year = {2023}, month = {09/2023}, pages = {65 - 84}, abstract = {

While PSI-driven cyclic electron flow (CEF) and assembly of thylakoid supercomplexes have been described in model organisms like Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, open questions remain regarding their contributions to survival under long-term stress. The Antarctic halophyte, C. priscuii UWO241 (UWO241), possesses constitutive high CEF rates and a stable PSI-supercomplex as a consequence of adaptation to permanent low temperatures and high salinity. To understand whether CEF represents a broader acclimation strategy to short- and long-term stress, we compared high salt acclimation between the halotolerant UWO241, the salt-sensitive model, C. reinhardtii, and a moderately halotolerant Antarctic green alga, C. sp. ICE-MDV (ICE-MDV). CEF was activated under high salt and associated with increased non-photochemical quenching in all three Chlamydomonas species. Furthermore, high salt-acclimated cells of either strain formed a PSI-supercomplex, while state transition capacity was attenuated. How the CEF-associated PSI-supercomplex interferes with state transition response is not yet known. We present a model for interaction between PSI-supercomplex formation, state transitions, and the important role of CEF for survival during long-term exposure to high salt.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, acclimation, Antarctica, Chlamydomonas, Cyclic electron flow, PSI-supercomplex, salinity, state transitions}, issn = {0166-8595}, doi = {10.1007/s11120-023-01032-y}, url = {https://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11120-023-01032-y}, author = {Kalra, Isha and Wang, Xin and Zhang, Ru and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss} } @article {4487, title = {Glycerol is an osmoprotectant in two Antarctic Chlamydomonas species from an ice-covered saline lake and is synthesized by an unusual bidomain enzyme}, journal = {Frontiers in Plant Science}, volume = {11}, year = {2020}, month = {08/2020}, abstract = {

Glycerol, a compatible solute, has previously been found to act as an osmoprotectant in some marine Chlamydomonas species and several species of Dunaliella from hypersaline ponds. Recently, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and Dunaliella salina were shown to make glycerol with an unusual bidomain enzyme, which appears to be unique to algae, that contains a phosphoserine phosphatase and glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase. Here we report that two psychrophilic species of Chlamydomonas (C. spp. UWO241 and ICE-MDV) from Lake Bonney, Antarctica also produce high levels of glycerol to survive in the lake\’s saline waters. Glycerol concentration increased linearly with salinity and at 1.3 M NaCl, exceeded 400 mM in C. sp. UWO241, the more salt-tolerant strain. We also show that both species expressed several isoforms of the bidomain enzyme. An analysis of one of the isoforms of C. sp. UWO241 showed that it was strongly upregulated by NaCl and is thus the likely source of glycerol. These results reveal another adaptation of the Lake Bonney Chlamydomonas species that allow them to survive in an extreme polar environment.

}, keywords = {LTER-MCM, Antarctica, Chlamydomonas, glycerol synthesis, glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase, Lake Bonney, phosphoserine phosphatase}, doi = {10.3389/fpls.2020.01259}, url = {https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpls.2020.01259/full}, author = {Raymond, James A. and Rachael M. Morgan-Kiss and Stahl-Rommel, Sarah} }