INTERACTIONS BETWEEN UV‐B EXPOSURE AND PHOSPHORUS NUTRITION. II. EFFECTS ON RATES OF DAMAGE AND REPAIR¹

Abstract

The interactive effects of P starvation and exposure to UV radiation (UVR) on rates of damage ( k ) and repair ( r ), modeled from exposure response curves (ERCs), in the chlorophyte microalga Dunaliella tertiolecta Butcher were investigated. When nutrient‐replete cells were exposed to the UVR during growth, k and r both increased by approximately 62% and 100%, respectively. However, when cells were starved of phosphorus, k increased by a similar amount as observed in replete cells, but r decreased by about 70%, explaining the increased susceptibility of cells to UVR‐induced inhibition of photosynthesis under P starvation. Although not specifically investigated in this study, it is argued that the decreased repair capacity under P starvation is due to a decline in nucleotides such as ATP and GTP, which are necessary for protein repair.