Mechanisms of temperature acclimatisation in the psychrotolerant green alga Coccomyxa subellipsoidea C-169 (Trebouxiophyceae).

Abstract

Despite the interest in different temperature acclimatisations of higher plants, few studies have considered the mechanisms that allow psychrotolerant microalgae to live in a cold environment. Although the analysis of the genomes of some algae revealed the presence of specific genes that encode enzymes that can be involved in the response to stress, this area has not been explored deeply. This work aims to clarify the acclimatisation mechanisms that enable the psychrotolerant green alga Coccomyxa subellipsoidea C-169 to grow in a broad temperature spectrum. The contents of various biochemical compounds in cells, the lipid composition of the biological membranes of entire cells, and the thylakoid fraction as well as the electron transport rate and PSII efficiency were investigated. The results demonstrate an acclimatisation mechanism that is specific for C. subellipsoidea and that allows the maintenance of appropriate membrane fluidity, for example, in thylakoid membranes. It is achieved almost exclusively by changes within the unsaturated fatty acid pool, like changes from C18:2 into C18:3 and C16:2 into C16:3 or vice versa. This ensures, for example, an effective transport rate through PSII and in consequence a maximum quantum yield of it in cells growing at different temperatures. Furthermore, reactions characteristic for both psychrotolerant and mesophilic microalgae, involving the accumulation of lipids and soluble sugars in cells at temperatures other than optimal, were observed. These findings add substantially to our understanding of the acclimatisation of psychrotolerant organisms to a wide range of temperatures and prove that this process could be accomplished in a species-specific manner.