Dinoflagellate symbioses: strategies and adaptations for the acquisition and fixation of inorganic carbon

William Leggat, Elessa M. Marendy, Brett Baillie, Spencer M. Whitney, Martha Ludwig, Murray R. Badger and David Yellowlees

Functional Plant Biology 29(3) 309 - 322
Published: 20 March 2002

Abstract

Dinoflagellates exist in symbiosis with a number of marine invertebrates including giant clams, which are the largest of these symbiotic organisms. The dinoflagellates (Symbiodinium sp.) live intercellularly within tubules in the mantle of the host clam. The transport of inorganic carbon (Ci) from seawater to Symbiodinium (=zooxanthellae) is an essential function of hosts that derive the majority of their respiratory energy from the photosynthate exported by the zooxanthellae. Immunolocalisation studies show that the host has adapted its physiology to acquire, rather than remove CO₂, from the haemolymph and clam tissues. Two carbonic anhydrase (CA) isoforms (32 and 70 kDa) play an essential part in this process. These have been localised to the mantle and gill tissues where they catalyse the interconversion of HCO₃^- to CO₂, which then diffuses into the host tissues. The zooxanthellae exhibit a number of strategies to maximise Ci acquisition and utilisation. This is necessary as they express a form II Rubisco that has poor discrimination between CO₂ and O₂. Evidence is presented for a carbon concentrating mechanism (CCM) to overcome this disadvantage. The CCM incorporates the presence of a light-activated CA activity, a capacity to take up both HCO₃^-and CO₂, an ability to accumulate an elevated concentration of Ci within the algal cell, and localisation of Rubisco to the pyrenoid. These algae also express both external and intracellular CAs, with the intracellular isoforms being localised to the thylakoid lumen and pyrenoid. These results have been incorporated into a model that explains the transport of Ci from seawater through the clam to the zooxanthellae.

Keywords: carbonic anhydrase, CCM, clam, cnidarian, dinoflagellate, Symbiodinium, symbiosis, Rubisco, zooxanthellae.

Full text doi:10.1071/PP01202

© CSIRO 2002