Glyoxylate decreases the oxygen sensitivity of nitrogenase activity and photosynthesis in the cyanobacterium Anabaena cylindrica.

Raising the pO2 reduced nitrogenase activity (C2H2 reduction) of Anabaena cylindrica for both glyoxylate-treated (5 mM) and untreated cells. The stimulation caused by glyoxylate, however, increased with increases of pO2 from 2 to 99 kPa. As the pO2 increased the net CO2 fixation was lowered (Warburg effect) while the CO2 compensation point increased. Glyoxylate partly relieved this sensitivity of net photosynthesis to oxygen and reduced the compensation point considerably. The cells used were preincubated in the dark to exhaust photosynthetic pools. A more pronounced reduction in sensitivity of nitrogenase to oxygen for glyoxylate-treated cells was evident when a preincubation in air with reduced pCO2 (13 μl l(-1)) was used. This was, however, not evident until after a 10-h incubation in air. Before this point 2 kPa O2 sustained the highest nitrogenase activity. Addition of 0.5 and 5 mM of HCO 3 (-) to Anabaena cultures preincubated at low CO2 levels (29 μl l(-1)) abolished the stimulatory effect of glyoxylate on the nitrogenase. Thus, the results sustain the suggestion that glyoxylate may act as an inhibitor of photorespiratory activities in cyanobacteria and can be used as a means of increasing their nitrogen and CO2 fixation capacities.