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Chlorophyll (Chl) assays derive their importance from the essential role of Chls in the harvesting of solar energy and its transduction to biologically useful chemical energy (ATP) and reducing power (NADPH or NADH) during photosynthesis... more
Chlorophyll (Chl) assays derive their importance from the essential role of Chls in the harvesting of solar energy and its transduction to biologically useful chemical energy (ATP) and reducing power (NADPH or NADH) during photosynthesis in higher plants, marine and aquatic algae, and in photosynthetic bacteria. Accurate determination of Chl a and b concentrations and of Chl a/b ratios has
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ABSTRACT This chapter presents a diverse collection of perspectives covering recent discoveries and ‘crystal ball gazing’ on future directions. Detection and characterisation from a molecular level is covered through to monitoring... more
ABSTRACT This chapter presents a diverse collection of perspectives covering recent discoveries and ‘crystal ball gazing’ on future directions. Detection and characterisation from a molecular level is covered through to monitoring phytoplankton dynamics and climate change at a regional and global Earth observation level. At a molecular level, perspectives are provided on our basic understanding of the role of pigments in photosynthesis and photoprotection incorporating the development of new analytical and ‘omics’ techniques. Applied perspectives are included on HAB detection, aquaculture and algal biotechnology. Phytoplankton pigment research continues to develop opening up many fascinating and exciting possibilities. These perspectives highlight how research on pigments acts as a linchpin across a diverse range of disciplines including microbial ecology, oceanography, limnology, remote sensing and applied phycology.
ABSTRACT
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... P. Allen; Idan Ashur; Samuel I. Beale; Christoph F. Beck; Robert E. Blankenship; Alexander S. Brandis; Paula Braun; Donald A. Bryant; Aline GM Chew; Ido de Boer; Huub JM de Groot; P. Leslie Dutton; Patrick W. Fowler; Niels-Ulrik... more
... P. Allen; Idan Ashur; Samuel I. Beale; Christoph F. Beck; Robert E. Blankenship; Alexander S. Brandis; Paula Braun; Donald A. Bryant; Aline GM Chew; Ido de Boer; Huub JM de Groot; P. Leslie Dutton; Patrick W. Fowler; Niels-Ulrik Frigaard; Ritsuko Fujii; Adela Garcia-Martin ...
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ABSTRACT
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Over the last half century, the most frequently used assay for chlorophylls in higher plants and green algae, the Arnon assay [Arnon DI (1949) Plant Physiol 24: 1-15], employed simultaneous equations for determining the concentrations of... more
Over the last half century, the most frequently used assay for chlorophylls in higher plants and green algae, the Arnon assay [Arnon DI (1949) Plant Physiol 24: 1-15], employed simultaneous equations for determining the concentrations of chlorophylls a and b in aqueous 80% acetone extracts of chlorophyllous plant and algal materials. These equations, however, were developed using extinction coefficients for chlorophylls a and b derived from early inaccurate spectrophotometric data. Thus, Arnon's equations give inaccurate chlorophyll a and b determinations and, therefore, inaccurate chlorophyll a/b ratios, which are always low. This paper describes how the ratios are increasingly and alarmingly low as the proportion of chlorophyll a increases. Accurate extinction coefficients for chlorophylls a and b, and the more reliable simultaneous equations derived from them, have been published subsequently by many research groups; these new post-Arnon equations, however, have been ignored ...
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Chlorophylls, magnesium-containing tetrapyrrolic pigments of photosynthesis, are widely-distributed in Nature and participate in both light harvesting and in the transduction of light energy to chemical energy for the photosynthetic... more
Chlorophylls, magnesium-containing tetrapyrrolic pigments of photosynthesis, are widely-distributed in Nature and participate in both light harvesting and in the transduction of light energy to chemical energy for the photosynthetic fixation of carbon dioxide. We briefly discuss the extensive role of various isotopic labelling techniques in elucidating the pathway of tetrapyrrole-pigment biosynthesis and we acknowledge the classic and meticulous research of David Shemin who, approximately 50 years ago, introduced isotopic tracer techniques with (15)N and (14)C isotopes to study the biosynthesis of the carbon/nitrogen macrocycle of haem, an iron tetrapyrrole. The main focus of this review is the application of mass spectrometry and (18)O labelling to the study of the incorporation of oxygen atoms from molecular oxygen or water into the periphery of the chlorophyll macrocycle during biosynthesis and their loss during degradation and light acclimation. In particular, we review the mech...
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ABSTRACT This chapter presents a diverse collection of perspectives covering recent discoveries and ‘crystal ball gazing’ on future directions. Detection and characterisation from a molecular level is covered through to monitoring... more
ABSTRACT This chapter presents a diverse collection of perspectives covering recent discoveries and ‘crystal ball gazing’ on future directions. Detection and characterisation from a molecular level is covered through to monitoring phytoplankton dynamics and climate change at a regional and global Earth observation level. At a molecular level, perspectives are provided on our basic understanding of the role of pigments in photosynthesis and photoprotection incorporating the development of new analytical and ‘omics’ techniques. Applied perspectives are included on HAB detection, aquaculture and algal biotechnology. Phytoplankton pigment research continues to develop opening up many fascinating and exciting possibilities. These perspectives highlight how research on pigments acts as a linchpin across a diverse range of disciplines including microbial ecology, oceanography, limnology, remote sensing and applied phycology.
Research Interests: Fluorescence Spectroscopy, Structure, Photochemistry, Spectroscopy, Mass Spectrometry, and 14 moreEnvironmental Chemistry, Quantitative analysis, Phytochrome, Identification, Assembly, Procedure, Denaturation, Quantitative Analysis, Gel electrophoresis, Monomers, Light Harvesting, Phycoerythrin, Phycobiliproteins, and Phytochromes
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Using (18)O-labelling and mass spectrometry, we have examined bacteriochlorophyll a formation in Rhodovulum sulfidophilum, formerly known as Rhodobacter sulfidophilus, which forms large amounts of BCh1 a both aerobically in the dark and... more
Using (18)O-labelling and mass spectrometry, we have examined bacteriochlorophyll a formation in Rhodovulum sulfidophilum, formerly known as Rhodobacter sulfidophilus, which forms large amounts of BCh1 a both aerobically in the dark and anaerobically in the light. R. sulfidophilum, growing under strict anaerobiosis in the light, possesses hydratases which incorporate (18)O label from H2(18)O into both the 13(1)-oxo and 3-acetyl oxygens; in addition, the four carboxyl oxygens at C13(3) and C17(3) were labelled by H2(18)O. Under aerobic conditions in the dark, the labelling of the 13(1)-oxo group by H2(18)O was reduced indicating that (16)O was being incorporated into this group from air. R. sulfidophilum, grown in the dark under an atmosphere initially containing 50% (18)O2 in Ar, possessed an oxygenase which incorporated (18)O label from (18)O2 specifically into the 13(1)-oxo group; under these conditions the acetyl and carboxyl groups remained unlabelled. Thus, both an oxygenase and hydratase operate in R. sulfidophilum to form the 13(1)-oxo group of ring E of BCh1 a; the 3-acetyl group oxygen, however, arises only from water via a hydratase.
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Using mass spectrometry, we have demonstrated 18O-labelling of both the 13(1)-oxo and 3-acetyl groups of newly-formed bacteriochlorophyll a synthesized by Rhodobacter sphaeroides cells during adaptation from respiratory to photosynthetic... more
Using mass spectrometry, we have demonstrated 18O-labelling of both the 13(1)-oxo and 3-acetyl groups of newly-formed bacteriochlorophyll a synthesized by Rhodobacter sphaeroides cells during adaptation from respiratory to photosynthetic conditions in the presence of H218O. This derivation of the 13(1)-oxo group of bacteriochlorophyll a from water provides a stark contrast with that of chlorophylls in higher plants where ring E formation is an aerobic process in which the 13(1)-oxo group arises from molecular oxygen via an oxygenase activity. The formation of the 3-acetyl group of bacteriochlorophyll a, however, is consistent with the enzymic hydration of the 3-vinyl group of a derivative of chlorophyll a.