THE EFFECT OF SPECIFIC POISONS UPON THE PHOTO-REDUCTION WITH HYDROGEN IN GREEN ALGAE

Abstract

1. The effect of poisons upon the photoreduction with hydrogen in Scenedesmus and similar algae has been studied. The poisons used were cyanide, hydroxylamine, dinitrophenol, and carbon monoxide, substances known to inhibit more or less specifically certain enzymatic reactions. 2. It was found that quite generally one has to distinguish between the action of poisons upon the photoreduction in the stationary state, once this type of metabolism has been well established in the cells, and their effects on transition phenomena, on the "adaptation" and its reversal, the "turnback" from photoreduction to photosynthesis. 3. Cyanide inhibits photoreduction more strongly than it inhibits photosynthesis in the same algae. It is concluded that the mechanism of oxygen liberation, which is idle in photoreduction, is not very sensitive to cyanide. 4. Hydroxylamine in low concentrations is a powerful inhibitor of photosynthesis but has practically no influence on the rate of photoreduction. Consequently, it is assumed that it acts in photosynthesis mainly by inhibiting the evolution of oxygen. Greater concentrations of hydroxylamine clearly inhibit photoreduction, but diminish the rate to about one-half only. A greater degree of inhibition is obtained only by prolonged incubation. 5. Dinitrophenol was found to inhibit strongly the reduction of carbon dioxide, under aerobic as well as under anaerobic conditions. A stimulating effect of dinitrophenol can be demonstrated only with respiration or fermentation, not with photosynthesis. 6. Carbon monoxide interferes with all phases of the hydrogen metabolism in algae. It is supposed therefore to be a specific inhibitor for the hydrogenase system. 7. The "adaptation" to the hydrogen metabolism, which takes place if the algae are incubated anaerobically in hydrogen for several hours, is inhibited completely by very small amounts of cyanide. The adaptation reaction is more sensitive to cyanide than most of the other metabolic processes in the same cell. Correspondingly cyanide enhances the return to aerobic conditions, the "turnback," which occurs under the influence of light of high intensities. 8. Hydroxylamine, applied aerobically, inhibits the adaptation reaction to about the same degree as it inhibits photosynthesis. Photoreduction proceeds after the adaptation in presence of hydroxylamine only at a fraction of the rate that it would have if the poison were added later. 9. Hydroxylamine in concentrations of 10–3 M protects the anaerobic metabolism against the return to aerobic photosynthesis which normally occurs under the influence of light of too high intensity. The protection is only relative and the higher the light intensity the more hydroxylamine is needed to keep photoreduction going. Once a "turnback" occurs in presence of much hydroxylamine all photochemical gas exchange comes to an end.