Acclimation strategies of algae to changing light intensity

Algae currently have a niche role in green industries, but have potential to provide much more. To do so, we need to understand photosynthesis and metabolism better. This project will advance our understanding of which regulatory processes of photosynthesis are required under various growth conditions, and the influence they have on metabolism. The model green alga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, will be used to enable access to mutants available for testing the relevance of processes revealed to be important.

We are using liquid and gas chromatography, coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS / LC-MS), for targeted metabolite analyses. Algal cultures will be grown in precisely regulated bioreactors, enabling repetitious growth conditions. A full characterisation of photosynthesis and respiration will be supported by the involvement of Oroboros Instruments. This company has an excellent reputation for producing high-end instrumentation for characterisation of mitochondrial energetics, and have current interests in incorporating measurements of photosynthesis. Therefore, a further aim of the project is to improve the coupling of non-destructive measurements for deeper insights into photosynthesis.