Carbon uptake in low dissolved inorganic carbon environments: the effect of limited carbon availability on photosynthetic organisms in thermal waters

Photosynthesis is the primary carbon fixation process in thermal waters below 70°C, but some hydrothermal waters have extremely low dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC), potentially limiting the growth of inorganic carbon fixing organisms such as algae and cyanobacteria. To address the issue of how carbon is assimilated by phototrophs in these environments, we conducted experiments to compare inorganic carbon uptake mechanisms by two phylogenetically distinct organisms collected from geographically distinct carbon limited systems: the neutral pH geothermal waters of El Tatio, Chile, and the acidic geothermal waters of Tantalus Creek in Norris Geyser Basin, Yellowstone National Park. Discharge waters at El Tatio have low total DIC concentrations (2 to 6 ppm) found mainly as HCO3-; this is in contrast to even lower measured DIC values in Tantalus Creek (as low as 0.13 ppm) that, due to a measured pH of 2.5, exists primarily as CO2. Cyanobacteria and algae are innately physiologically plastic, and we are looking to explore the possibility that carbon limitation in these environments is extreme enough to challenge that plasticity and lead to a suite of carbon uptake adaptations. We hypothesize that these microorganisms utilize adaptive modes of Ci uptake that allow them to survive under these limiting conditions. Cyanobacteria (primarily Synechococcus spp.) isolated from El Tatio can utilize either passive CO2 uptake or active HCO3- uptake mechanisms, in contrast to the eukaryotic alga Cyanidium spp. from Tantalus Creek, which is restricted to an energy-dependent CO2 uptake mechanism. To test this hypothesis, we conducted pH drift experiments (Omelon et al., 2008) to examine changes in pH and [DIC] under a range of pH and [DIC] culture conditions. This work provides baseline information upon which we will begin to investigate the effects of low [DIC] on the growth of phototrophs collected from these and other less carbon limited systems.