Na. Mir et al., PHOTOSYNTHETIC NITRITE REDUCTION AS INFLUENCED BY THE INTERNAL INORGANIC CARBON POOL IN AIR-GROWN CELLS OF SYNECHOCOCCUS UTEX-625, Plant physiology, 108(1), 1995, pp. 313-318
Photosynthetic reduction of NO2- was studied in air-grown cells of a c
yanobacterium, Synechococcus UTEX 625. Addition of NO2- resulted in si
gnificant amounts of chlorophyll a fluorescence quenching both in the
absence and presence of CO2 fixation inhibitors, glycolaldehyde or iod
oacetamide. The degree of NO2- quenching was insensitive to the O-2 co
ncentration in the medium. Addition of 100 mu M inorganic carbon in th
e presence of glycolaldehyde and O-2, leading to formation of the carb
on pool within the cells, resulted in pronounced fluorescence quenchin
g. Removal of O-2 from the medium restored the fluorescence yield comp
letely, and the subsequent addition of NO2- quenched 36% of the variab
le fluorescence. From the response to added 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)1,1-
dimethylurea, the quenching by NO2- appeared to be photochemical quenc
hing, and nonphotochemical quenching did not seem to be present. The r
eduction of NO2- observed on its addition to inorganic carbon-depleted
cells remained uninfluenced by O-2 or glycolaldehyde. The internal in
organic carbon pool in the cells stimulated NO2- reduction, both in th
e presence and absence of O-2, by 4.8-fold. An increase in NO2- reduct
ion by 0.5-fold was also observed in the presence of O-2 during simult
aneous assimilation of carbon and nitrogen in inorganic carbon-deplete
d cells. Contrary to this, under anaerobiosis, NO2- reduction was supp
ressed when carbon and nitrogen assimilation occurred together.