Partial inhibition of the inter-photosystem electron transfer at cytochrome b6f complex promotes periodic surges of hydrogen evolution in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Periodic surges of H2 evolution were observed in the wild-type strain CC-5325 of the green unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in the presence of the electron transport in-hibitors dibromo-6-isopropyl-3-methyl-1,4-benzoquinone (DBMIB, 3.5 mM) and 2,4-dinitrophenylether and iodonitrothymol (DNP-INT, 0.6 mM). Addition of DBMIB partly inhibited the electron transfer from Cytochrome b6f complex to Photosystem I, over -reduced the plastoquinone pool, gradually inhibited photosystem II and created anoxic conditions in cells. During 30 days of anaerobic incubation, continues H2 photoproduction with a minimum rate of 1 ml/L of culture per day was accompanied with additional out-bursts of H2 evolution. The first noticeable peak of H2 evolution was observed on day 6 of incubation, with maximum rate of 23 ml of H2 per L of culture per day. It was repeated on day 9 and day 22 with the 2 and 4 times lower rates respectively. Addition of DNP-NT showed similar effect by inducing the H2 photoproduction for 15 days, albeit at much lower rates. Contribution of the direct and indirect pathways to the H2 production is shown by fluorescence, thermoluminescence and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy. It is proposed that photosynthetic electron transport in combination with photorespira-tion, chlororespiration and starch accumulation can switch on and off between photo-synthetic, H2 producing and survival modes of cell metabolism. Controlled switching between these modes could potentially maintain the long lasting photosynthetic H2 pro-duction in the wild-type of Chlamydomonas.(c) 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/ licenses/by/4.0/).

Automated summary

Periodic surges of H2 evolution were observed in the green unicellular alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii in the presence of electron transport inhibitors. Fluorescence, thermoluminescence, and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopy indicate the involvement of different metabolic pathways in the H2 production.