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Metabolism and Enzymology

Demonstration of Both a Photosynthetic and a Nonphotosynthetic CO₂ Requirement for NH₄⁺ Assimilation in the Green Alga Selenastrum minutum¹

Photosynthetic Nitrogen Metabolism Research Unit, Department of Biology, University of Natal, Durban, 4001, South Africa, Department of Biology, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, Canada, K7L 3N6

Nitrogen-limited and nitrogen-sufficient cell cultures of Selenastrum minutum (Naeg.) Collins (Chlorophyta) were used to investigate the dependence of NH₄⁺ assimilation on exogenous CO₂. N-sufficient cells were only able to assimilate NH₄⁺ maximally in the presence of CO₂ and light. Inhibition of photosynthesis with 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea, diuron also inhibited NH₄⁺ assimilation. These results indicate that NH₄⁺ assimilation by N-sufficient cells exhibited a strict requirement for photosynthetic CO₂ fixation. N-limited cells assimilated NH₄⁺ both in the dark and in the light in the presence of 3-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-1,1-dimethylurea, diuron, indicating that photosynthetic CO₂ fixation was not required for NH₄⁺ assimilation. Using CO₂ removal techniques reported previously in the literature, we were unable to demonstrate CO₂-dependent NH₄⁺ assimilation in N-limited cells. However, employing more stringent CO₂ removal techniques we were able to show a CO₂ dependence of NH₄⁺ assimilation in both the light and dark, which was independent of photosynthesis. The results indicate two independent CO₂ requirements for NH₄⁺ assimilation. The first is as a substrate for photosynthetic CO₂ fixation, whereas the second is a nonphoto-synthetic requirement, presumably as a substrate for the anaplerotic reaction catalyzed by phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase.

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