Phototropin is a
blue light receptor, which mediates a variety of blue-light elicited physiological processes in plants and
algae. In higher plants these processes include
phototropism,
chloroplast movement and stomatal opening. In the green alga
Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, phototropin plays a vital role in progression of the
sexual life cycle and in the control of the eye spot size and
light sensitivity Phototropin is also involved in blue-light mediated changes in the synthesis of chlorophylls, carotenoids,
chlorophyll binding proteins. We compared the
transcriptome of phototropin knock out (PHOT KO)
mutant and wild-type parent to analyze differences in
gene expression in high light grown cultures (500 μmol photons m−2s−1). Our results indicate the up-regulation of genes involved in photosynthetic
electron transport chain, carbon fixation pathway,
starch, lipid, and
cell cycle control genes. With respect to photosynthetic
electron transport genes, genes encoding proteins of the
cytochrome b6f and
ATP synthase complex were up regulated potentially facilitating
proton-coupled
electron transfer. In addition genes involved in limiting steps in the Calvin cycle
Ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase /
oxygenase (
RuBisCO), Sidoheptulose 1,7 bisphosphatase (SBPase),
Glyceraldehyde-3-
phosphate dehydrogenase (3PGDH) and that mediate
cell-
cycle control (CDK) were also up regulated along with
starch synthase and
fatty acid biosynthesis genes involved in
starch and lipid synthesis. In addition, transmission
electron micrographs show increased accumulation of starch granules in PHOT
mutant compared to
wild type, which is consistent with the higher expression of
starch synthase genes. Collectively, the altered patterns of
gene expression in the PHOT mutants were associated with a two-fold increase in growth and
biomass accumulation compared to
wild type when grown in environmental photobioreactors (Phenometrics) that simulate a pond environment. In conclusion, our studies suggest that phototropin may be a master
gene regulator that suppresses rapid
cell growth and promotes gametogenesis and sexual recombination in
wild type strains.