Abstract
Chlorophyll (Chl) f is the most recently discovered chlorophyll and has only been found in cyanobacteria from wet environments. Although its structure and biophysical properties are resolved, the importance of Chl f as an accessory pigment in photosynthesis remains unresolved. We found Chl f in a cyanobacterium enriched from a cavernous environment and report the first example of Chl f-supported oxygenic photosynthesis in cyanobacteria from such habitats. Pigment extraction, hyperspectral microscopy and transmission electron microscopy demonstrated the presence of Chl a and f in unicellular cyanobacteria found in enrichment cultures. Amplicon sequencing indicated that all oxygenic phototrophs were related to KC1, a Chl f-containing cyanobacterium previously isolated from an aquatic environment. Microsensor measurements on aggregates demonstrated oxygenic photosynthesis at 742 nm and less efficient photosynthesis under 768- and 777-nm light probably because of diminished overlap with the absorption spectrum of Chl f and other far-red absorbing pigments. Our findings suggest the importance of Chl f-containing cyanobacteria in terrestrial habitats.
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Acknowledgements
This study was supported by a grant from the Danish Research Council for Independent Research | Natural Sciences (MK). We thank Erik Trampe for assistance with high-performance liquid chromatography and hyperspectral analyses, Daniel Wangpraseurt and Milan Szabo for assistance with light measurements in the field, and Klaus Qvortrup for assistance with electron microscopy.
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Since the acceptance of this article, a survey of several cyanobacterial cultures from aquatic and terrestrial habitats has shown widespread occurrence of the ability to synthesize Chl d, Chl f, and modified phycobilins when incubated under far-red light, further corroborating our findings (Gan F, Shen G, Bryant DA. (2015). Occurrence of far-red light photoacclimation (FaRLiP) in diverse Cyanobacteria. Life 5: 4–24).
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Behrendt, L., Brejnrod, A., Schliep, M. et al. Chlorophyll f-driven photosynthesis in a cavernous cyanobacterium. ISME J 9, 2108–2111 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.14
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ismej.2015.14
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