Adaptation to life on land at high O(2) via transition from ferredoxin-to NADH-dependent redox balance

Pyruvate : ferredoxin oxidoreductase (PFO) and iron only hydrogenase ([Fe]-HYD) are common enzymes among eukaryotic microbes that inhabit anaerobic niches. Their function is to maintain redox balance by donating electrons from food oxidation via ferredoxin (Fd) to protons, generating H(2) as a waste product. Operating in series, they constitute a soluble electron transport chain of one-electron transfers between FeS clusters. They fulfil the same function—redox balance—served by two electron-transfers in the NADH- and O(2)-dependent respiratory chains of mitochondria. Although they possess O(2)-sensitive FeS clusters, PFO, Fd and [Fe]-HYD are also present among numerous algae that produce O(2). The evolutionary persistence of these enzymes among eukaryotic aerobes is traditionally explained as adaptation to facultative anaerobic growth. Here, we show that algae express enzymes of anaerobic energy metabolism at ambient O(2) levels (21% v/v), Chlamydomonas reinhardtii expresses them with diurnal regulation. High O(2) environments arose on Earth only approximately 450 million years ago. Gene presence/absence and gene expression data indicate that during the transition to high O(2) environments and terrestrialization, diverse algal lineages retained enzymes of Fd-dependent one-electron-based redox balance, while the land plant and land animal lineages underwent irreversible specialization to redox balance involving the O(2)-insensitive two-electron carrier NADH.