ACQUISITION OF INORGANIC CARBON BY THE MARINE HAPTOPHYTE ISOCHRYSIS GALBANA (PRYMNESIOPHYCEAE)1

Abstract

Inorganic carbon acquisition has been investigated in the marine haptophyte Isochrysis galbana. External carbonic anhydrase (CA) was present in air‐grown (0.034% CO2) cells but completely repressed in high (3%) CO2‐grown cells. External CA was not inhibited by 1.0 mM acetazolamide. The capacity of cells to take up bicarbonate was examined by comparing the rate of photosynthetic O2 evolution with the calculated rate of spontaneous CO2 supply; at pH 8.2 the rates of O2 evolution exceeded the CO2 supply rate 14‐fold, indicating that this alga was able to take up HCO3−. Monitoring CO2 concentrations by mass spectrometry showed that suspensions of high CO2‐grown cells caused a rapid drop in the extracellular CO2 in the light and addition of bovine CA raised the CO2 concentration by restoring the HCO3−‐CO2 equilibrium, indicating that cells were maintaining the CO2 in the medium below its equilibrium value during photosynthesis. A rapid increase in extracellular CO2 concentration occurred on darkening the cells, indicating that the cells had accumulated an internal pool of unfixed inorganic carbon. Active CO2 uptake was blocked by the photosynthetic electron transport inhibitor 3‐(3′,4′‐dichlorphenyl)‐1,1‐dimethylurea, indicating that CO2 transport was supported by photosynthetic reactions. These results demonstrate that this species has the capacity to take up HCO3− and CO2 actively as sources of substrate for photosynthesis and that inorganic carbon transport is not repressed by growth on high CO2, although external CA expression is regulated by CO2 concentration.