Program
 
General Session 3: Biological oceanography & global change
 
 
 
Poster
Enhancement of non-photochemical quenching as an adaptive strategy under phosphorus deprivation in the dinoflagellate Karlodinium veneficum
GS3-67-S
Yudong Cui* , State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Marine Biodiversity and Global Change Research Center, Xiamen University
Huan Zhang, Department of Marine Sciences, University of Connecticut
Senjie Lin, State Key Laboratory of Marine Environmental Science and Marine Biodiversity and Global Change Research Center, Xiamen University
Presenter Email: coffee16th@126.com
Intensified water column stratification due to global warming has the potential to decrease nutrient availability while increasing excessive light for the photosynthesis of phytoplankton in the euphotic zone, which together will increase the need for photoprotective strategies such as non-photochemical quenching (NPQ). We investigated whether NPQ is enhanced and how it is regulated molecularly under phosphorus (P) deprivation in the dinoflagellate Karlodinium veneficum. We grew K. veneficum under P-replete and P-depleted conditions, monitored their growth rates and chlorophyll fluorescence, and conducted comparative proteomic analysis and gene expression analyses. The results were used to characterize NPQ modulation and associated gene expression dynamics under P deprivation. NPQ in K. veneficum was elevated significantly under P deprivation. Accordingly, the abundances of many pigment proteins including three light-harvesting complex stress-related proteins increased under P-depleted condition. Besides, many enzymes related to genetic information flow were down-regulated while many enzymes related to energy production and conversion were up-regulated under P deprivation. Taken together, our results indicate that K. veneficum cells respond to P deprivation by reconfiguring the metabolic landscape and up-tuning NPQ to increase the capacity to dissipate excess light energy, which provides a new perspective about what adaptive strategy dinoflagellates have evolved to cope with P deprivation.