Crocosphaera and Cyanothece are both unicellular, nitrogen-fixing cyanobacteria that prefer different environments. Whereas Crocosphaera mainly lives in nutrient-deplete, open oceans, Cyanothece is more common in coastal, nutrient-rich regions. Despite their physiological similarities, the factors separating their niches remain elusive. Here we performed physiological experiments on clone cultures and expand upon a simple ecological model to show that their different niches can be sufficiently explained by the observed differences in their photosynthetic capacities and rates of carbon (C) consumption. Our experiments revealed that Cyanothece has overall higher photosynthesis and respiration rates than Crocosphaera. A simple growth model of these microorganisms suggests that C storage and consumption are previously under-appreciated factors when evaluating the occupation of niches by different marine nitrogen fixers.

• Klíčová slova
• Carbon consumption, Niche separation, UCYN-B, UCYN-C,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Investigations of phytoplankton responses to iron stress in seawater are complicated by the fact that iron concentrations do not necessarily reflect bioavailability. Most studies to date have been based on single species or field samples and are problematic to interpret. Here, we report results from an experimental cocultivation model system that enabled us to evaluate interspecific competition as a function of iron content and form, and to study the effect of nutritional conditions on the proteomic profiles of individual species. Our study revealed that the dinoflagellate Amphidinium carterae was able to utilize iron from a hydroxamate siderophore, a strategy that could provide an ecological advantage in environments where siderophores present an important source of iron. Additionally, proteomic analysis allowed us to identify a potential candidate protein involved in iron acquisition from hydroxamate siderophores, a strategy that is largely unknown in eukaryotic phytoplankton.

• Klíčová slova
• (s)PLS-DA, (sparse) partial least squares discriminant analysis, AUC, area under curve, Amphidinium carterae, AtpE, ATP synthase, BCS, bathocuproinedisulfonic acid disodium salt, CREG1, cellular repressor of E1A stimulated genes 1, DFOB, desferrioxamine B, EDTA, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, ENT, enterobactin, FACS, fluorescence-activated cell sorting, FBAI, fructose-bisphosphate aldolase I, FBAII, fructose-bisphosphate aldolase II, FBP1, putative ferrichrome-binding protein, FOB, ferrioxamine B, Flow cytometry, ISIP, iron starvation induced protein, Iron, LHCX, light-harvesting complex subunits, LL, long-term iron limitation, LR, iron enrichment, Marine microalgae, NBD, nitrobenz-2-oxa-1,3-diazole, NPQ, nonphotochemical quenching, PAGE, polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, PSI, photosystem I, PSII, photosystem II, PetA, cytochrome b6/f, Proteomics, PsaC, photosystem I iron-sulfur center, PsaD, photosystem I reaction center subunit II, PsaE, photosystem I reaction center subunit IV, PsaL, photosystem I reaction center subunit XI, PsbC, photosystem II CP43 reaction center protein, PsbV, cytochrome c-550, RR, long-term iron sufficiency, SOD1, superoxide dismutase [Cu-Zn], Siderophores,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.csbj.2021.11.036.].

• Publikační typ
• tisková chyba MeSH

The photoautotrophic, unicellular N2-fixer, Cyanothece, is a model organism that has been widely used to study photosynthesis regulation, the structure of photosystems, and the temporal segregation of carbon (C) and nitrogen (N) fixation in light and dark phases of the diel cycle. Here, we present a simple quantitative model and experimental data that together, suggest external dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) concentration as a major limiting factor for Cyanothece growth, due to its high C-storage requirement. Using experimental data from a parallel laboratory study as a basis, we show that after the onset of the light period, DIC was rapidly consumed by photosynthesis, leading to a sharp drop in the rate of photosynthesis and C accumulation. In N2-fixing cultures, high rates of photosynthesis in the morning enabled rapid conversion of DIC to intracellular C storage, hastening DIC consumption to levels that limited further uptake. The N2-fixing condition allows only a small fraction of fixed C for cellular growth since a large fraction was reserved in storage to fuel night-time N2 fixation. Our model provides a framework for resolving DIC limitation in aquatic ecosystem simulations, where DIC as a growth-limiting factor has rarely been considered, and importantly emphasizes the effect of intracellular C allocation on growth rate that varies depending on the growth environment.

• Klíčová slova
• Biomass, CO2, Carbon, Carbon allocation, Carbon storage, Cellular growth, Computer simulation, Culture, Cyanothece, DIC, Diurnal cycle, Growth limitation, Mathematical model, Nitrate, Nitrogen fixation, Photosynthesis, Quantitative model, Turbidostat,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Marine diazotrophs are a diverse group with key roles in biogeochemical fluxes linked to primary productivity. The unicellular, diazotrophic cyanobacterium Cyanothece is widely found in coastal, subtropical oceans. We analyze the consequences of diazotrophy on growth efficiency, compared to NO3 --supported growth in Cyanothece, to understand how cells cope with N2-fixation when they also have to face carbon limitation, which may transiently affect populations in coastal environments or during blooms of phytoplankton communities. When grown in obligate diazotrophy, cells face the double burden of a more ATP-demanding N-acquisition mode and additional metabolic losses imposed by the transient storage of reducing potential as carbohydrate, compared to a hypothetical N2 assimilation directly driven by photosynthetic electron transport. Further, this energetic burden imposed by N2-fixation could not be alleviated, despite the high irradiance level within the cultures, because photosynthesis was limited by the availability of dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), and possibly by a constrained capacity for carbon storage. DIC limitation exacerbates the costs on growth imposed by nitrogen fixation. Therefore, the competitive efficiency of diazotrophs could be hindered in areas with insufficient renewal of dissolved gases and/or with intense phytoplankton biomass that both decrease available light energy and draw the DIC level down.

• Klíčová slova
• Crocosphaera subtropica, Cyanothece, carbon limitation, light limitation, nitrogen fixation, photosynthesis,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Photomorphogenesis is a process by which photosynthetic organisms perceive external light parameters, including light quality (color), and adjust cellular metabolism, growth rates and other parameters, in order to survive in a changing light environment. In this study we comprehensively explored the light color acclimation of Cyanobium gracile, a common cyanobacterium in turbid freshwater shallow lakes, using nine different monochromatic growth lights covering the whole visible spectrum from 435 to 687 nm. According to incident light wavelength, C. gracile cells performed great plasticity in terms of pigment composition, antenna size, and photosystem stoichiometry, to optimize their photosynthetic performance and to redox poise their intersystem electron transport chain. In spite of such compensatory strategies, C. gracile, like other cyanobacteria, uses blue and near far-red light less efficiently than orange or red light, which involves moderate growth rates, reduced cell volumes and lower electron transport rates. Unfavorable light conditions, where neither chlorophyll nor phycobilisomes absorb light sufficiently, are compensated by an enhanced antenna size. Increasing the wavelength of the growth light is accompanied by increasing photosystem II to photosystem I ratios, which involve better light utilization in the red spectral region. This is surprisingly accompanied by a partial excitonic antenna decoupling, which was the highest in the cells grown under 687 nm light. So far, a similar phenomenon is known to be induced only by strong light; here we demonstrate that under certain physiological conditions such decoupling is also possible to be induced by weak light. This suggests that suboptimal photosynthetic performance of the near far-red light grown C. gracile cells is due to a solid redox- and/or signal-imbalance, which leads to the activation of this short-term light acclimation process. Using a variety of photo-biophysical methods, we also demonstrate that under blue wavelengths, excessive light is quenched through orange carotenoid protein mediated non-photochemical quenching, whereas under orange/red wavelengths state transitions are involved in photoprotection.

• Klíčová slova
• cyanobacteria, imbalance, light-quality acclimation, photosynthesis, pigment composition,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

The productivity of the ocean is largely dependent on iron availability, and marine phytoplankton have evolved sophisticated mechanisms to cope with chronically low iron levels in vast regions of the open ocean. By analyzing the metabarcoding data generated from the Tara Oceans expedition, we determined how the global distribution of the model marine chlorarachniophyte Bigelowiella natans varies across regions with different iron concentrations. We performed a comprehensive proteomics analysis of the molecular mechanisms underpinning the adaptation of B. natans to iron scarcity and report on the temporal response of cells to iron enrichment. Our results highlight the role of phytotransferrin in iron homeostasis and indicate the involvement of CREG1 protein in the response to iron availability. Analysis of the Tara Oceans metagenomes and metatranscriptomes also points to a similar role for CREG1, which is found to be widely distributed among marine plankton but to show a strong bias in gene and transcript abundance toward iron-deficient regions. Our analyses allowed us to define a new subfamily of the CobW domain-containing COG0523 putative metal chaperones which are involved in iron metabolism and are restricted to only a few phytoplankton lineages in addition to B. natans At the physiological level, we elucidated the mechanisms allowing a fast recovery of PSII photochemistry after resupply of iron. Collectively, our study demonstrates that B. natans is well adapted to dynamically respond to a changing iron environment and suggests that CREG1 and COG0523 are important components of iron homeostasis in B. natans and other phytoplankton.IMPORTANCE Despite low iron availability in the ocean, marine phytoplankton require considerable amounts of iron for their growth and proliferation. While there is a constantly growing knowledge of iron uptake and its role in the cellular processes of the most abundant marine photosynthetic groups, there are still largely overlooked branches of the eukaryotic tree of life, such as the chlorarachniophytes. In the present work, we focused on the model chlorarachniophyte Bigelowiella natans, integrating physiological and proteomic analyses in culture conditions with the mining of omics data generated by the Tara Oceans expedition. We provide unique insight into the complex responses of B. natans to iron availability, including novel links to iron metabolism conserved in other phytoplankton lineages.

• Klíčová slova
• Bigelowiella natans, iron, metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, photosynthesis, phytoplankton, proteomics,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Unicellular nitrogen fixing cyanobacteria (UCYN) are abundant members of phytoplankton communities in a wide range of marine environments, including those with rapidly changing nitrogen (N) concentrations. We hypothesized that differences in N availability (N2 vs. combined N) would cause UCYN to shift strategies of intracellular N and C allocation. We used transmission electron microscopy and nanoscale secondary ion mass spectrometry imaging to track assimilation and intracellular allocation of 13C-labeled CO2 and 15N-labeled N2 or NO3 at different periods across a diel cycle in Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142. We present new ideas on interpreting these imaging data, including the influences of pre-incubation cellular C and N contents and turnover rates of inclusion bodies. Within cultures growing diazotrophically, distinct subpopulations were detected that fixed N2 at night or in the morning. Additional significant within-population heterogeneity was likely caused by differences in the relative amounts of N assimilated into cyanophycin from sources external and internal to the cells. Whether growing on N2 or NO3, cells prioritized cyanophycin synthesis when N assimilation rates were highest. N assimilation in cells growing on NO3 switched from cyanophycin synthesis to protein synthesis, suggesting that once a cyanophycin quota is met, it is bypassed in favor of protein synthesis. Growth on NO3 also revealed that at night, there is a very low level of CO2 assimilation into polysaccharides simultaneous with their catabolism for protein synthesis. This study revealed multiple, detailed mechanisms underlying C and N management in Cyanothece that facilitate its success in dynamic aquatic environments.

• Klíčová slova
• Crocosphaera subtropica (former Cyanothece sp. ATCC 51142), Cyanothece, TEM, carbon fixation, nanoSIMS, nitrogen fixation, photosynthesis,
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH

Survival of phototrophic organisms depends on their ability to collect and convert enough light energy to support their metabolism. Phototrophs can extend their absorption cross section by using diverse pigments and by tuning the properties of these pigments via pigment-pigment and pigment-protein interaction. It is well known that some cyanobacteria can grow in heavily shaded habitats by utilizing far-red light harvested with far-red-absorbing chlorophylls d and f. We describe a red-shifted light-harvesting system based on chlorophyll a from a freshwater eustigmatophyte alga Trachydiscus minutus (Eustigmatophyceae, Goniochloridales). A comprehensive characterization of the photosynthetic apparatus of T. minutus is presented. We show that thylakoid membranes of T. minutus contain light-harvesting complexes of several sizes differing in the relative amount of far-red chlorophyll a forms absorbing around 700 nm. The pigment arrangement of the major red-shifted light-harvesting complex is similar to that of the red-shifted antenna of a marine alveolate alga Chromera velia. Evolutionary aspects of the algal far-red light-harvesting complexes are discussed. The presence of these antennas in eustigmatophyte algae opens up new ways to modify organisms of this promising group for effective use of far-red light in mass cultures.

• Klíčová slova
• Chromatic acclimation, Eustigmatophyta, Light-harvesting protein, Oligomeric LHC, Red-shifted LHC, Violaxanthin,
• MeSH
• biologické pigmenty metabolismus   MeSH
• diuron MeSH
• fluorescenční spektrometrie MeSH
• Heterokontophyta metabolismus   účinky záření   MeSH
• membránové proteiny metabolismus   MeSH
• sladká voda * MeSH
• světlo * MeSH
• světlosběrné proteinové komplexy metabolismus   MeSH
• teplota MeSH
• tylakoidy metabolismus   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• Názvy látek
• biologické pigmenty MeSH
• diuron MeSH
• membránové proteiny MeSH
• světlosběrné proteinové komplexy MeSH

Iron and copper are essential elements for practically all living organisms. Their metabolism is frequently interconnected, and while copper is relatively abundant in the ocean, iron is often a limiting factor for the growth of many marine microorganisms. In the present study, we aimed to elucidate the metabolisms of copper and iron and the connection of both in the marine picoalga Ostreococcus tauri. We show that O. tauri adjusts its copper economy in response to copper deficiency by downregulation of the expression of plastocyanin in favor of cytochrome c oxidase without significant changes in growth and physiology. Copper deprivation leads to increased expression of copper transporting ATPase and proteins involved in tetrapyrrole synthesis, most likely to ensure higher turnover of chlorophyll and/or heme. Elucidation of the effect of copper on the incorporation of iron into O. tauri proteins led us to identify the major iron uptake mediating protein, Ot-Fea1, whose expression and binding of iron is copper dependent. Based on our investigation of the incorporation of iron into Ot-Fea1 and ferritin, we hypothesize that O. tauri possesses another Fea1-independent iron uptake system.

• MeSH
• ATPázy transportující měď metabolismus   MeSH
• Chlorophyta metabolismus   MeSH
• chloroplasty metabolismus   MeSH
• měď metabolismus   MeSH
• plastocyanin metabolismus   MeSH
• rostlinné proteiny metabolismus   MeSH
• transferin metabolismus   MeSH
• železo metabolismus   MeSH
• Publikační typ
• časopisecké články MeSH
• práce podpořená grantem MeSH
• Názvy látek
• ATPázy transportující měď MeSH
• měď MeSH
• plastocyanin MeSH
• rostlinné proteiny MeSH
• transferin MeSH
• železo MeSH