Dynamics of Ribulose 1,5-Bisphosphate Carboxylase/Oxygenase Gene Expression in the Coccolithophorid Coccolithus pelagicus during a Tracer Release Experiment in the Northeast Atlantic†

• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 2004
• Subjects: Calvin; Sion; Northeast Atlantic
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.664.6110; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1065161/pdf/1350-04.pdf

We report a pronounced diel rhythm in ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO) gene expression in a natural population of the coccolithophorid Coccolithus pelagicus sampled during a Lagrangian experiment in the Northeast Atlantic. Our observations show that there is greater heterogeneity in the temporal regulation of RubisCO expression among planktonic chromophytes than has been reported hitherto. Despite the importance of the oceans in the global carbon cycle, comparatively little is known of the regulation of photo-synthetic carbon fixation in marine phytoplankton. As in higher plants, the bulk of CO2 is fixed via the Calvin cycle enzyme ribulose 1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase/oxygenase (RubisCO) (10) in these organisms. Therefore, it is of considerable inter-est to understand how the environment structures the expres-sion of this key enzyme. In the present study, we investigated the diel variability in rbcL mRNA abundance in a natural population of the coccolithophorid Coccolithus pelagicus. Observations were made in subpolar waters to the south of