Flexibility in anaerobic metabolism as revealed in a mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii lacking hydrogenase activity.

ABSTRACT: The green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii has a network of fermentation pathways that become active when cells acclimate to anoxia. Hydrogenase activity is an important component of this metabolism, and we have compared metabolic and regulatory responses that accompany anaerobiosis in wild-type C. reinhardtii cells and a null mutant strain for the HYDEF gene (hydEF-1 mutant), which encodes an [FeFe] hydrogenase maturation protein. This mutant has no hydrogenase activity and exhibits elevated accumulation of succinate and diminished production of CO2 relative to the parental strain during dark, anaerobic metabolism. In the absence of hydrogenase activity, increased succinate accumulation suggests that the cells activate alternative pathways for pyruvate metabolism, which contribute to NAD(P)

SUBMITTER: Dubini A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2652310 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature