Changes in the LHCII-mediated energy utilization and dissipation adjust the methanol-induced biomass increase

Considerably low methanol concentrations of 0.5% (v/v), induce an immense increase in biomass production in cultures of the unicellular green alga Scenedesmus obliquus compared to controls without additional methanol. The effect is light-regulated and it mimics high-CO2 induced changes of the molecular structure and function of the photosynthetic apparatus. There is evidence that methanol enhances under high light conditions by molecular changes in the LHCII – a decrease of the functional antenna-size per active reaction center – the photochemical effectiveness of the absorbed energy. This means that the non-photochemical quenching (NPQ) is minimized and thereby the overall dissipation energy. Experiments with mutants of Scenedesmus Wt produced evidence that the LHCII is the locus of the mechanism which regulates the methanol effect. The employed mutants were Wt-LHC, lacking a functioning LHCII, the light-dependent greening mutant C-2A′, and the double mutant C-2A′-LHC, combining both mutations.