The blue-light reaction in plasmodia of Physarum polycephalum is coupled to respiration

The influence of inhibitors of energy metabolism (2-deoxy-D-glucose, monoiodoacetate, KCN) as well as various substrates for respiration (sodium acetate, glycine, glutamine, α-ketoglutarate, pyruvate) were investigated with respect to the effect of blue light (450 nm) on contractile behaviour of plasmodial strands of Physarum polycephalum. When the energy metabolism is not experimentally modified, blue light induces a prolongation of the period of the contraction-relaxation cycle. This effect appears within 2-3 min and seems to represent the primary reaction of this organism to blue light. Inhibition of respiration by KCN completely abolished this response to blue-light irradiation. In contrast, an impediment of glycolysis enhanced the effect. This indicates that the reaction to blue light is related to respiration, i.e., to the function of mitochondria. Among different substrates for respiration only α-ketoglutarate combined with pyruvate and applied in the presence of inhibitors of glycolysis showed an enhancement of the photoresponse, i.e., a prolongation of the period and an increase of the amplitude of the force oscillations. This indicates that the pyruvate and α-ketoglutarate-dehydrogenase complexes functioning in mitochondrial respiration are involved in the primary blue-light reaction of plasmodia of Physarum polycephalum.