PHOTOSYNTHESIS AND CALCIFICATION BY EMILIANIA HUXLEYI (PRYMNESIOPHYCEAE) AS A FUNCTION OF INORGANIC CARBON SPECIES

To test the possibility of inorganic carbon limitation of the marine unicellular alga Emiliania huxleyi (Lohmann) Hay and Mohler, its carbon acquisition was measured as a function of the different chemical species of inorganic carbon present in the medium. Because these different species are interdependent and covary in any experiment in which the speciation is changed, a set of experiments was performed to produce a multidimensional carbon uptake scheme for photosynthesis and calcification. This scheme shows that CO₂ that is used for photosynthesis comes from two sources. The CO₂ in seawater supports a modest rate of photosynthesis. The HCO is the major substrate for photosynthesis by intracellular production of CO₂ (HCO+ H⁺→ CO₂+ H₂O → CH₂O + O₂). This use of HCO is possible because of the simultaneous calcification using a second HCO, which provides the required proton (HCO+ Ca²⁺→ CaCO₃+ H⁺). The HCO is the only substrate for calcification. By distinguishing the two sources of CO₂ used in photosynthesis, it was shown that E. huxleyi has a K_½ for external CO₂ of “only” 1.9 ± 0.5 μM (and a V_max of 2.4 ± 0.1 pmol·cell⁻¹·d⁻¹). Thus, in seawater that is in equilibrium with the atmosphere ([CO₂]= 14 μM, [HCO]= 1920 μM, at fCO₂= 360 μatm, pH = 8, T = 15° C), photosynthesis is 90% saturated with external CO₂. Under the same conditions, the rate of photosynthesis is doubled by the calcification route of CO₂ supply (from 2.1 to 4.5 pmol·cell⁻¹·d⁻¹). However, photosynthesis is not fully saturated, as calcification has a K_½ for HCO of 3256 ± 1402 μM and a V_max of 6.4 ± 1.8 pmol·cell⁻¹·d⁻¹. The H⁺ that is produced during calcification is used with an efficiency of 0.97 ± 0.08, leading to the conclusion that it is used intracellularly. A maximum efficiency of 0.88 can be expected, as NO uptake generates a H⁺ sink (OH⁻ source) for the cell. The success of E. huxleyi as a coccolithophorid may be related to the efficient coupling between H⁺ generation in calcification and CO₂ fixation in photosynthesis.