Carbonic anhydrase activity in seaweeds: overview and recommendations for measuring activity with an electrometric method, using Macrocystis pyrifera as a model species

Carbonic anhydrase (CA) plays an important physiological role in all biological systems by accelerating the interconversion of CO₂ and HCO₃⁻. In algae, CA is essential for photosynthesis: external CA (CA_ext) dehydrates HCO₃⁻, enhancing the supply of CO₂ to the cell surface, and internal CA (CA_int) interconverts HCO₃⁻ and CO₂ to maintain the inorganic carbon (Ci) pool and supply CO₂ to RuBisCO. We first conducted a literature review comparing the conditions in which CA extraction and measurement have been carried out, using the commonly used Wilbur–Anderson method. We found that the assay has been widely modified since its introduction in 1948, mostly without being optimized for the species tested. Based on the review, an optimized protocol for measuring CA in Macrocystis pyrifera was developed, which showed that the assay conditions can strongly affect CA activity. Tris–HCl buffer gave the highest levels of CA activity, but phosphate buffer reduced activity significantly. Buffers containing polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) and dithiothreitol (DTT) stabilized CA. Using the optimized assay, CA_ext and CA_int activities were readily measured in Macrocystis with higher precision compared to the non-optimized method. The CA_int activity was 2 × higher than CA_ext, which is attributed to the Ci uptake mechanisms of Macrocystis. This study suggests that the CA assay needs to be optimized for each species prior to experimental work to obtain both accurate and precise results.