Algae lacking carbon-concentrating mechanisms

Abstract

Most of the algae and cyanobacteria that have been critically examined express a carbon-concentrating mechanism (CCM) when grown at, or below, the current atmospheric CO2 concentration. This paper considers algae that appear to lack a CCM. Critical examination of the evidence on which the presence or absence of a CCM is decided shows that more information is frequently needed before the criteria can be fully applied. Examples are the pathways of glycolate metabolism in nongreen algae, and the 13C/12C discrimination shown by form ID Rubisco in vitro. The available evidence suggests that the algae lacking CCMs are some terrestrial green microalgae, some florideophyte freshwater red macroalgae, and a number of florideophyte red macroalgae from the supralittoral, littoral, and sublittoral, and almost all of the freshwater chrysophytes and synurophytes examined. Certain environmental, biochemical, and biophysical factors may permit the occurrence of algae lacking CCMs. The absence of CCMs is presumably the plesiomorphic (i.e., ancestral) condition in cyanobacteria (and algae?).Key words: CO2 diffusion, chrysophyte algae, ecology, evolution, green algae, photosynthesis, red algae.