Inter-Research
Aquatic Microbial Ecology

ABSTRACT: Data on acclimation to 2 photon flux densities (15 and 100 umol photons m^-2 s^-1) in Spirulina subsalsa strain 3F, a highly fluorescent phycoerythrin-rich cyanobacterium isolated from the brackish Lake Faro (Messina, Italy), indicated plasticity of the photosynthetic apparatus of this organism. High-irradiance grown cells showed the greatest photosynthetic capacity even though they had a lower chlorophyll and phycobiliprotein content. Carotenoids decreased to a lesser extent but their composition changed. beta-carotene decreased, while the amount of myxoxanthophyll more than doubled. The stability of both C-phycoerythrin and C-phycocyanin ratios in cells grown under different light quality (green and red) demonstrated the lack of complementary chromatic adaptation in S. subsalsa. This factor, combined with the efficient utilization of low-wavelength light, indicates the strong adaptation of this strain to its habitat.

KEY WORDS: Pigments . Oxygen evolution . Photoacclimation . Spirulinasubsalsa . Cyanobacteria

Published in AME Vol. 9, No. 1 (1995) on April 28
Print ISSN: 0948-3055; Online ISSN: 1616-1564. Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 1995