Abstract
The pyrenoid is a prominent proteinaceous structure found in the stroma of the chloroplast in unicellular eukaryotic algae, most multicellular algae, and some hornworts. The pyrenoid contains the enzyme ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase and is sometimes surrounded by a carbohydrate sheath. We have observed in the unicellular green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Dangeard that the pyrenoid starch sheath is formed rapidly in response to a decrease in the CO2 concentration in the environment. This formation of the starch sheath occurs coincidentally with the induction of the CO2-concentrating mechanism. Pyrenoid starch-sheath formation is partly inhibited by the presence of acetate in the growth medium under light and low-CO2 conditions. These growth conditions also partly inhibit the induction of the CO2-concentrating mechanism. When cells are grown with acetate in the dark, the CO2-concentrating mechanism is not induced and the pyrenoid starch sheath is not formed even though there is a large accumulation of starch in the chloroplast stroma. These observations indicate that pyrenoid starch-sheath formation correlates with induction of the CO2-concentrating mechanism under low-CO2 conditions. We suggest that this ultrastructural reorganization under lowCO2 conditions plays a role in the CO2-concentrating mechanism C. reinhardtii as well as in other eukaryotic algae.
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Abbreviations
- Low CO2 :
-
air containing ambient 0.03% CO2 (v/v)
- high CO2 :
-
air supplemented with CO2 so that the final CO2 concentration is 5% (v/v)
- Rubisco:
-
ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase
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The authors thank Dr. David J. Longstreth and Dr. Patricia M. Moroney for critically reading the manuscript. This work was supported by National Science Foundation grants IBN-8957037 and IBN-9304662.
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Ramazanov, Z., Rawat, M., Henk, M.C. et al. The induction of the CO2-concentrating mechanism is correlated with the formation of the starch sheath around the pyrenoid of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii . Planta 195, 210–216 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00199681
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00199681