Photoacclimation of cultured strains of the cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa to high-light and low-light conditions

Abstract

The cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa forms blooms that can consist of colonies. We have investigated how M. aeruginosa acclimatizes to changing light conditions such as can occur during blooms. Three different strains were exposed to two irradiance levels: lower (LL) and higher (HL) than the irradiance-onset saturation parameter. We measured the photosynthetic pigment concentrations, PSII photochemical efficiency, electron transport rate (ETR), irradiance-saturated ETR and ETR efficiency. The relationship between ETR and photosynthetic oxygen production and the excess in PSII capacity were also studied for one strain. Higher values of chlorophyll a and phycocyanin and lower values of total carotenoids were found under LL conditions in the three strains. The strains showed clear differences in the irradiance-saturated ETR and in ETR efficiency under both LL and HL treatments. No differences were found in the linear relationship between ETR and photosynthetic oxygen production under both irradiance treatments. LL-acclimated cells showed higher PSII excess capacity than HL ones, possibly because their higher pigment content could result in a higher light stress than HL cells when forming surface blooms. The fact that the genetically different strains show different photosynthetic physiologies suggests that the very dynamic light climate observed in lakes may allow their coexistence.