The effects of light intensity on oxygen production in CC 3913 pf9-3 mutant and CC-1690 mt+21 gr wild-type Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

Abstract

The purpose of our study was to examine if wild type strain CC-1690 mt+21 gr and mutant strain CC 3913 pf9-3 Chlamydomonas reinhardtii exhibit different photosynthetic activities under different light intensities, as measured by oxygen production. Oxygen production of the wild-type and mutant C. reinhardtii was measured at average light intensities of 442 lux, 3055 lux, and 13300 lux. A two-way ANOVA indicated that there was a statistically significant relationship between light intensity and oxygen production in C. reinhardtii (p = 0.00016). Furthermore, it was determined that oxygen production of the mutant was different than the wild type (p = 6.62 x 10^-7), and that the wild type and mutant responded differently to changes in light intensity (p = 0.01354). Oxygen production increased as the light intensity increased due the greater availability of light energy for photosynthesis. The mutant strain of C. reinhardtii has impaired flagellar movement and is observed to produce significantly less oxygen than the wild-type strain, thus suggesting that flagellar movement is important for detecting light and producing oxygen.