Environmental Stress: Response, Mechanism and its Regulation in Cyanobacterium Spirulina.

Author(s): Sarika Poonia*, Kanu Priya

Abstract

Spirulina is a photosynthesizing cyanophyte used as an important source of protein. It is multicellular, filamentous, unbranched and helically coiled blue-green microalgae which is mass cultured. Environmental stress is the major limiting factor for mass cultivation due to disturbances in this normal redox state caused by oxidative damage at the cellular level. Low temperature affects the biochemical composition of Spirulina. The balance between different pathways is disrupted and uncoupled resulting in transfer of electrons that have high energy state to molecular oxygen (O2) to form reactive oxygen species (ROS). ROS damages DNA, PSII, carbon fixation process, enzymes activity, ATP production, causes lipid peroxidation and affects the protein flexibility & structural changes which results in initiation of apoptosis. To overcome the challenges of ROS the photosynthetic organisms developed robust antioxidant and redox buffering systems composed of enzymatic antioxidants and non-enzymatic antioxidants and also increases photorespiration.

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