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It is well known that estrogenic compounds affect development of fertilized eggs of many species of birds, fish and amphibians through disrupted activity of carbonic anhydrase (CA). The most potent activity comes from the most commonly occurring synthetic sterol, 17alpha-Ethynylestradiol (EE2). Less is known about the responses of aquatic phytoplankton to these compounds. Here we show for the first time that, in comparision to the control, the addition of 7 microM EE2 reduced the growth rate of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii by 68% for cells grown at high CO2. When cells were grown in ambient air (low Ci) with a fully activated carbon concentrating mechanism through the induction of CA activity, the growth rates were reduced by as much as 119%. A reduced growth rate could be observed at EE2 concentrations as low as 10 pM. This was accompanied by a reduced maximum capacity for electron transport in photosystem II as determined by a lower FV/FM for low Ci-grown cells, which indicates the involvement of CAH3, a CA specifically located in the thylakoid lumen involved in proton pumping across the thylakoid membranes. These results were in agreement with an observed reduction in the chloroplastic affinity for Ci as shown by a strong increase in the Michaelis-Menten K0.5 for HCO3-. In itself, a lowering of the growth rate of a green alga by addition of the sterol EE2 warrants further investigation into the potential environmental impact by the release of treated waste water.

Maximum photosynthetic capacity indicates that the Antarctic psychrophile Chlamydomonas raudensis H. Ettl UWO 241 is photosynthetically adapted to low temperature. Despite this finding, C. raudensis UWO 241 exhibited greater sensitivity to low-temperature photoinhibition of PSII than the mesophile Chlamydomonas reinhardtii P. A. Dang. However, in contrast with results for C. reinhardtii, the quantum requirement to induce 50% photoinhibition of PSII in C. raudensis UWO 241 (50 μmol photons) was comparable at either 8°C or 29°C. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a photoautotroph whose susceptibility to photoinhibition is temperature independent. In contrast, the capacity of the psychrophile to recover from photoinhibition of PSII was sensitive to temperature and inhibited at 29°C. The maximum rate of recovery from photoinhibition of the psychrophile at 8°C was comparable to the maximum rate of recovery of the mesophile at 29°C. We provide evidence that photoinhibition in C. raudensis UWO 241 is chronic rather than dynamic. The photoinhibition-induced decrease in the D1 content in C. raudensis recovered within 30 min at 8°C. Both the recovery of the D1 content as well as the initial fast phase of the recovery of Fv/Fm at 8°C were inhibited by lincomycin, a chloroplast protein synthesis inhibitor. We conclude that the susceptibility of C. raudensis UWO 241 to low-temperature photoinhibition reflects its adaptation to low growth irradiance, whereas the unusually rapid rate of recovery at low temperature exhibited by this psychrophile is due to a novel D1 repair cycle that is adapted to and is maximally operative at low temperature.

The sublittoral Fucus vesiculosus from the brackish Bothnian Sea is adapted to a salinity of 4-5 practical salinity units (psu). This study investigated the effect of different salinities (5, 10, 20 and 35 psu) on maximum photosynthetic capacity (Pmax) and the relative amount of ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (Rubisco). The results revealed a higher Pmax at higher salinities with the maximum at 10 psu. Higher salinities also resulted in increased relative amounts of Rubisco but this was not well correlated with the increased Pmax. Therefore, the amount of Rubisco doesn�t appear to be the main reason for the increased Pmax in higher salinities.

Persistently cold environments constitute one of our worlds largest ecosystems, and microorganisms dominate the biomass and metabolic activity in these extreme environments. The stress of low temperatures on life is exacerbated in organisms that rely on photoautrophic production of organic carbon and energy sources. Phototrophic organisms must coordinate temperature-independent reactions of light absorption and photochemistry with temperature-dependent processes of electron transport and utilization of energy sources through growth and metabolism. Despite this conundrum, phototrophic microorganisms thrive in all cold ecosystems described and (together with chemoautrophs) provide the base of autotrophic production in low-temperature food webs. Psychrophilic (organisms with a requirement for low growth temperatures) and psychrotolerant (organisms tolerant of low growth temperatures) photoautotrophs rely on low-temperature acclimative and adaptive strategies that have been described for other low-temperature-adapted heterotrophic organisms, such as cold-active proteins and maintenance of membrane fluidity. In addition, photoautrophic organisms possess other strategies to balance the absorption of light and the transduction of light energy to stored chemical energy products (NADPH and ATP) with downstream consumption of photosynthetically derived energy products at low temperatures. Lastly, differential adaptive and acclimative mechanisms exist in phototrophic microorganisms residing in low-temperature environments that are exposed to constant low-light environments versus high-light- and high-UV-exposed phototrophic assemblages.

The effect of salt on the green alga Chlamydomonas raudensis Ettl (UWO241) was investigated. This physchrophilic alga was discovered in a permanently ice-covered lake in Antarctica in the beginning of the 90's and was then classified as Chlamydomonas subcaudata. A phylogenetic study by Pocock et al. (2004) revealed that this alga was in fact a C.raudensis species. The latter type species was first discovered in an alpine meadow in Czech republic and kept in the SAG culture collection as strain number 49.72.The aim of this study was to use the potential high sensitivity of the extremophile to understand the effect of salinity on photosynthesis of phytoplankton in the oceans, where microalgae play a key role in the carbon cycle on earth. It has to be determined if global warming, which is leading to the melting of the north ice cap and thus to the dilution of the North Atlantic ocean will have a negative impact on algal populations. This study lays the foundations for a larger study, which focuses on the compounds released by these green algae that could potentially counteract the greenhouse effect by increasing the albedo on earth. The study includes a comparison of C. raudensis UWO241 (psychrophilic strain) with C. raudensis SAG 49.72 (mesophilic strain) and the model organism C.reinhardtii, (mesophile). Also none of the latter two are known to be halotolerant. The growth kinetics of the three species has been investigated at different salinities ranging from 2 µM to 200 mM NaCl and between 24°C and 28°C for the mesophiles and from 2 µM to 850 mM at 8°C for the psychrophile. All algae were grown under 20 μmol quanta m-2 s-1 irradiance.Furthermore, chlorophyll a fluorescence was used to determine the stress level caused by the salt on the three species.

Phototaxis is movement induced by light; this phenomenon has been detected in several solitary green algae species and generally works as a balancing force against gravitaxis, creating a system for optimum vertical placing in relation to irradiance, (energy -demands/restrictions). We study phototaxis in the mesophilic green algae, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii and C. raudensis SAG 49.72, relative to phototaxis in the from Antarctica newly isolated obligate psychrophilic strain of C. Raudensis (UWO 241) (henceforth called UWO 241). This species has some unusual movement patterns (Pocock et. al 2004) which function is yet to be revealed. Phototactic movement has not earlier been monitored in the normal conditions (high salinity, low temperature) for this strain, though when exposed to extreme temperatures (25C) the organism displays movement patterns interpreted as positive phototaxis. (Pocock et. al 2004). This behaviour should lead to a more rapid destruction of the organism due to the damaging high light (high energy input). The study shows that the three species responds different to light stimuli, when temperature is set to 12 C (culturing temperature) or the respective optimum culture temperatures. Light response curves of phototaxis in the range of 0,5 to 3000 μmol quanta m-2 s-1, shows that C. raudensis SAG 49.72 produce positive phototaxis over the entire range while C. reinhardtii mainly shows negative reactions. UWO 241 seem to be unaffected by irradiance, thus showing only nondirectional behaviour. In a second set of experiments the cells were kept in Petri dishes and exposed to 3000 μmol quanta m-2 s-1 under 40 min, in a temperature range of 5C to 25C for each sample. The results show that C. reinhardtii was negatively phototactic at 5C, switching to positive phototaxis at 25C.