Researcher in focus: Olga Chukhutsina

In 2015, Olga continued as a postdoctoral researcher at VU Amsterdam to advance the knowledge of photosynthesis and spectroscopy. She established advanced spectroscopic methods to study photosynthesis in whole plant leaves (Bag et al., 2020; Chukhutsina et al., 2019; Chukhutsina et al., 2020). Plant leaves are the most challenging spectroscopic samples due to their complicated morphology, high pigment concentration and high scattering. Spectroscopic measurements on single cells are much easier!

At the same time, Olga continued to contribute with her knowledge on photoregulation in aquatic photosynthesis (V. U. U. Chukhutsina et al., 2017; Van Den Berg et al., 2019). In early 2018, she moved to Imperial College (UK) to join the group in Jasper van Thor’s lab, first as an independent EMBO fellow and later as a Marie Curie fellow. This was her first project in crystallography.  She began to study a fascinating protein involved in the photoregulation of aquatic photosynthesis, called the orange carotenoid protein (OCP). Her stay at Imperial College led to the first light-induced OCP structure (Chukhutsina et al., 2022). OCP is a very difficult protein to study because it has an extremely low photoconversion rate, so it is difficult to get measurable amounts of the photoconverted protein.

Currently Olga focusses her research on the photocycle of the OCP and its potential applications in environmental engineering. By gaining control over the photocycle of OCP, she believes it is possible to regulate the aquatic biomass of microorganisms. This could have significant implications for ecological management, particularly in marine environments. Primarily her work centers on photosynthesis and photoregulation in cyanobacteria and brown algae, which are key contributors to aquatic biomass. These organisms thrive in extreme conditions, and Olga is investigating their behavior in vivo through advanced spectroscopic methods. Her goal is to understand how they manage light and stress, which in turn influences their growth and survival. Another exciting area of Olga’s research centers on special algae known as dinoflagellates, which live in symbiosis with corals. These algae play a crucial role in coral health, as corals rely on the high-energy metabolites, like sugars, produced by dinoflagellates. When these algae are exposed to stressors such as high temperatures, excessive light, or increased acidity, coral bleaching can occur, which poses a major threat to coral reefs and the biodiversity they support. As coral reefs account for 25% of oceanic biodiversity, understanding the relationship between algae and corals is critical to conservation efforts.

To delve deeper into the mechanics of OCP and its role in photoregulation, Olga combines advanced spectroscopy with structural biology. She frequently utilizes cutting-edge serial crystallography techniques at world-renowned facilities such as the Diamond Light Source, LCLS, MAX IV, and SwissFEL. These methods enable her to explore the structural dynamics of OCP in great detail, with the hope of uncovering mechanisms that could be leveraged to optimize photosynthesis. A unique aspect of Olga’s research is her synergetic approach, which always connects structural changes observed in the lab back to the larger biological context. She grows and studies photosynthetic organisms in her lab while also examining the behavior of isolated protein crystals, providing a comprehensive view of how these processes function in nature.