raheel anwar morel lab. co 2 concentrations and why they’re important the changing environment has...
Post on 19-Dec-2015
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Experiments with Thalassiosira weissflogii (TW) in Relation to Changing Oceanic Carbon
Dioxide Concentrations
Raheel AnwarMorel Lab
CO2 Concentrations and Why They’re ImportantThe changing environment has led to higher
dissolved cabron dioxide concentrations in the world’s oceans due to global warming and the greenhouse gas effect
Higher CO2 concentrations,which can easily be converted to bicarobonate, cause changes in the pH or acidity of the world’s oceans
The CDCA EnzymeCadmium carbonic anhydrase
Catalyzes the conversion of CO2 into bicarbonate and viceversa
Cadmium is a normally toxic metal, but here, it can act as a coenzyme for the reaction
Why TW and CDCA?Knowing where and in what quanitities this
enzyme is located in the algae is importantTells us how this species and other algae like it
can cope with the changing conditions of the oceans
Allow us to anticipate the effects of future changes
Overview of WorkStudied the expression of the CDCA enzyme
in TW under different pH conditionsIsolated chloroplasts to determine CDCA
activity and localization
0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000
CDCA Expression under Different pH Conditions
LowMediumHigh
Intensity of CDCA band in units
Isolation of ChloroplastsDeveloped a procedure for the isolation of chloroplasts First, sonication was used to break open cells without
entirely destroying all the chloroplasts Cells are resuspended in a buffer designed to protect the
chloroplasts that are now floating free in the solutionSolution is filtered on a 10 micron filter, allowing TW cells,
most of which are 10 micron or bigger to be caught on the filter, while chloroplasts, which necessarily are smaller, pass through.
This reduces whole cell contaminants remarkablyChloroplasts are then isolated on a gradient for further
analysis
MIMS Assay of CDCA activity for Chloroplast ExtractResults showed that CDCA activity was not
present in the chloroplastsReasons:
CDCA enzyme could be located outside of the chloroplasts
Whole cell activity is ruled out since the pellet of chloroplasts is washed many times
Chloroplasts could get inactivated, but fluroescence microscopy shows only slight decrease in output
Signals from the nucleus may be necessary for CA activity
ConclusionsOverall, higher concentrations of CDCA are
found when the pH is higher, giving us clues on how algae in the oceans are effected
Isolation of chloroplasts showed no signs of CDCA activity