Ferric reduction by iron-limited Chlamydomonas cells interacts with both photosynthesis and respiration

Iron limitation led to a large increase in extracellular ferricyanide (Fe[III]) reductase activity in cells of the green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii Dangeard. Mass-spectrometric measurement of gas exchange indicated that ferricyanide reduction in the dark resulted in a stimulation of respiratory CO2 production without affecting the rate of respiratory O2 consumption, consistent with the previously postulated activation of the oxidative pentose phosphate pathway in support of Fe(III) reduction by iron-limited Chlamydomonas cells (X. Xue et al., 1998, J. Phycol. 34: 939-944). At saturating irradiance, the rate of ferricyanide reduction was stimulated almost 3-fold, and this stimulation was inhibited by 3-(3',4'-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea. Ferricyanide reduction during photosynthesis resulted in approximately a 50% inhibition of photosynthetic CO2 fixation at saturating irradiance, and almost 100% inhibition of CO2 fixation at sub-saturating irradiance. Photosynthesis by iron-sufficient cells was not affected by ferricyanide addition. Addition of 250 microM ferricyanide to iron-limited cells in which photosynthesis was inhibited (either by the presence of glycolaldehyde, or by maintaining the cells at the CO2 compensation point) resulted in a stimulation in the rate of gross photosynthetic O2 evolution. Chlorophyll a fluorescence measurements indicated a large increase in non-photochemical quenching during ferricyanide reduction in the light; the increase in nonphotochemical quenching was abolished by the addition of nigericin. These results suggest that reduction of extracellular ferricyanide (mediated at the plasma membrane) interacts with both photosynthesis and respiration, and that both of these processes contribute NADPH in the light.