Nitrogen Starvation Impacts the Photosynthetic Performance of Porphyridium cruentum as Revealed by Chlorophyll a Fluorescence

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 7; no. 1; pp. 8542 - 11
• Main Authors: Zhao, Long-Sheng, Li, Kang, Wang, Qian-Min, Song, Xiao-Yan, Su, Hai-Nan, Xie, Bin-Bin, Zhang, Xi-Ying, Huang, Feng, Chen, Xiu-Lan, Zhou, Bai-Cheng, Zhang, Yu-Zhong
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 17.08.2017; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 631/449/1734; 631/449/2661/2665; 96/33; Algae; Algal Proteins - metabolism; Chlorophyll; Chlorophyll A - chemistry; Chlorophyll A - metabolism; Fluorescence; Fluorometry - methods; Humanities and Social Sciences; Light; multidisciplinary; Nitrogen; Nitrogen - metabolism; Nutrients; Oxygen - metabolism; Photochemical Processes - radiation effects; Photoinhibition; Photosynthesis - physiology; Photosynthesis - radiation effects; Photosystem II; Photosystem II Protein Complex - metabolism; Phycobilisomes; Porphyridium - metabolism; Porphyridium cruentum; Reaction centers; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Splitting; Thylakoid membranes
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-017-08428-6

Nitrogen is one of the most important nutrients needed for plants and algae to survive, and the photosynthetic ability of algae is related to nitrogen abundance. Red algae are unique photosynthetic eukaryotic organisms in the evolution of algae, as they contain phycobilisomes (PBSs) on their thylakoid membranes. In this report, the in vivo chlorophyll (Chl) a fluorescence kinetics of nitrogen-starved Porphyridium cruentum were analyzed to determine the effects of nitrogen deficiency on photosynthetic performance using a multi-color pulse amplitude modulation (PAM) chlorophyll fluorometer. Due to nitrogen starvation, the photochemical efficiency of PSII and the activity of PSII reaction centers (RCs) decreased, and photoinhibition of PSII occurred. The water-splitting system on the donor side of PSII was seriously impacted by nitrogen deficiency, leading to the inactivation of the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) and decreased light energy conversion efficiency. In nitrogen-starved cells, a higher proportion of energy was used for photochemical reactions, and thermal dissipation was reduced, as shown by qP and qN. The ability of nitrogen-starved cells to tolerate and resist high photon flux densities was weakened. Our results showed that the photosynthetic performance of P. cruentum was severely impacted by nitrogen deficiency.