Acute toxicity of excess Cu on the photosynthetic performance of Chlorella pyrenoidosa was examined by using chlorophyll a fluorescence transients and JIP-test after exposure to elevated Cu concentrations for a short time period. High Cu concentration resulted in a significant suppression in photosynthesis and respiration. The absorption flux (ABS/RC) per PSII reaction center increased with increasing Cu concentration, but the electron transport flux (ET0/RC) decreased. Excess Cu had an insignificant effect on the trapping flux (TR0/RC). The decline in the efficiency, with which a trapped exciton can move an electron into the electron transport chain further than QA-(Ψ0), the maximal quantum yield of primary photochemistry (φP0), and the quantum yield of electron transport (φE0) were also observed. The amount of active PSII reaction centers per excited cross section (RC/CS) was also in consistency with the change of photosynthesis when cells were exposed to excess Cu concentration. JIP-test parameters had a good linear relationship with photosynthetic O2 evolution. These results suggested that the decrease of photosynthesis in exposure to excess Cu may be a result of the inactivation of PSII reaction centers and the inhibition of electron transport in the acceptor side.
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