Understanding the mechanism that links nutrient stress with carbohydrate accumulation in the cyanobacterium Arthrospira platensis.

To maximize the production of carbohydrates in Arthrospira it is important to maintain a high photosynthetic energy production during accumulation of carbohydrates. During my postdoctoral research I would like to study in more detail the changes in photosynthetic energy capture and energy allocation that occur during N-limited growth in Arthrospira. I would also like to explore alternative approaches to induce carbohydrate accumulation that may have a more limited effect on photosynthetic energy production than N limitation, e.g. limitation by micronutrients. Few studies that investigate the influence of N limitation on accumulation of carbohydrates in microalgae take into account changes in conversion from photosynthesis into biomass fluxes. Dynamic Energy Budget (DEB) models are an ideal tool to link energy to mass in biological systems (Kooijman, 2009). I would like to apply these models to data that I have collected on N-limited growth of Arthrospira during my PhD research. I want to continue my collaboration with N. Leys and R. Wattiez to compare the response of Arthrospira to different limiting nutrients at the transcriptomic and proteomic level. I want to seek collaboration with other international research teams that are active in metabolic studies of microalgae in general or cyanobacteria in particular (e.g. S. Boussiba, Ben Gurion University; B. Rittmann, Arizona State University).