Permanent Stress Adaptation and Unexpected High Light Tolerance in the Shade-Adapted Chlamydomonas priscui (in EN)
The Antarctic photopsychrophile, Chlamydomonas priscui UWO241, is adapted to extreme environmental conditions, including permanent low temperatures, high salt, and shade. During long-term exposure to this extreme habitat, UWO241 appears to have lost several short-term mechanisms in favor of constitutive protection against environmental stress. This study investigated the physiological and growth responses of UWO241 to high-light conditions, evaluating the impacts of long-term acclimation to high light, low temperature, and high salinity on its ability to manage short-term photoinhibition. We found that UWO241 significantly increased its growth rate and photosynthetic activity at growth irradiances far exceeding native light conditions. Furthermore, UWO241 exhibited robust protection against short-term photoinhibition, particularly in photosystem I. Lastly, pre-acclimation to high light or low temperatures, but not high salinity, enhanced photoinhibition tolerance. These findings extend our understanding of stress tolerance in extremophilic algae. In the past 2 decades, climate change-related increasing glacial stream flow has perturbed long-term stable conditions, which has been associated with lake level rise, the thinning of ice covers, and the expansion of ice-free perimeters, leading to perturbations in light and salinity conditions. Our findings have implications for phytoplankton survival and the response to change scenarios in the light-limited environment of Antarctic ice-covered lakes.
- Research Organization:
- Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO (United States); Miami Univ., Oxford, OH (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC)
- Grant/Contract Number:
- SC0019138; SC0019464
- OSTI ID:
- 2580324
- Journal Information:
- Plants, Journal Name: Plants Journal Issue: 16 Vol. 13; ISSN PLANCD; ISSN 2223-7747
- Publisher:
- MDPICopyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- EN