The non-light-dependent reduction of 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol by cells of the blue-green alga Anacystis nidulans

Abstract

Whole cells of the blue-green alga Anacystis nidulans reduced, in the dark, the oxidation-reduction dye, 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol at rates severalfold higher than those of the other algae tested. Under anaerobiosis, the endogenous reductant was depleted after up to 80 nmol of dye were reduced per microliter of cells. Cells held in darkness for several hours exhibited lowered dark reduction rates relative to cells held in light. Treatment with lysozyme and ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid yielded cells that would photoreduce the dye, whereas untreated cells would not. Comparisons of photoreduction and dark reduction revealed that the dark reduction proceeded independently of the photoreduction. It was concluded that the dark reduction represents a pool of endogenous reductant of sufficiently low oxidation-reduction potenital to reduce completely 2,6-dichlorophenolindophenol. Additionally, untreated cells were shown to be permeable to the dye although they did not photoreduce it; thus lysozyme/ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid treatment was considered to make the oxidant accessible to the photosynthetic machinery.