CHAPTER 10: The Metabolic Acclimation of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii to Depletion of Essential Nutrients: Application for Hydrogen Production

The green microalga, Chlamydomonas reinhardtii, possesses a complex metabolic and regulatory network providing for efficient maintenance of energy balance and redox homeostasis in the cell, subjected to unfavorable conditions. In this review metabolic mechanisms involved in the acclimation responses of C. reinhardtii to the deficiency of such essential elements as N, P, S, or Mg, as well as to the depletion of oxygen, are discussed in detail. Attention is focused on the functional organization of electron transport pathways in the chloroplast and mitochondria and on the multiple-level regulation of photosynthesis upon nutrient stress. Recent achievements in studies of the effects of S, N, P, and Mg deprivation on the capacity of green algae to sustain hydrogen production in the light are reviewed in a comparative manner. Emphasis is placed on elucidation of the main physiological and protective mechanisms underlying long-term photosynthetic hydrogen production.