Environmental Research: Biosynthesis of 2-methylisoborneol is regulated by chromatic acclimation of *Pseudanabaena*

Abstract

Cyanobacteria can sense different light color by adjusting the components of photosynthetic pigments including chlorophyll a (Chl a) , phycoerythrin (PE), and phycocyanin (PC), etc. Filamentous cyanobacteria are the main producer of 2‐methylisoborneol (MIB) and many can increase their PE levels so that they are more competitive in subsurface layer where green light is more abundant, and have caused extensive odor problems in drinking water reservoirs. Here, we identified the potential correlation between MIB biosynthesis and ambient light color induced chromatic acclimation (CA) of a MIB-producing Pseudanabaena strain. The results suggest Pseudanabaena regulates the pigment proportion through Type III CA (CA3), by increasing PE abundance and decreasing PC in green light. The biosynthesis of MIB and Chl a share the common precursor, and are positively correlated with statistical significance regardless of light color ($R^2 = 0.68$, $p < 0.001$). Besides, the PE abundance is also positively correlated with Chl a in green light ($R^2 = 0.57$, $p = 0.019$) since PE is the antenna that can only transfer the energy to PC and Chl a. In addition, significantly higher MIB production was observed in green light since more Chl a was synthesized.