Year: 2016
Type: article
Abstract: The absorption of visible light in aquatic environments has led to the common assumption that aquatic organisms sense and adapt to penetrative blue/green light wavelengths but show little or no response to the more attenuated red/far-red wavelengths. Here, we show that two marine diatom species, Phaeodactylum tricornutum and Thalassiosira pseudonana, possess a bona fide red/far-red light sensing phytochrome (DPH) that uses biliverdin as a chromophore and displays accentuated red-shifted absorbance peaks compared with other characterized plant and algal phytochromes. Exposure to both red and far-red light causes changes in gene expression in P. tricornutum, and the responses to far-red light disappear in DPH knockout cells, demonstrating that P. tricornutum DPH mediates far-red light signaling. The identification of DPH genes in diverse diatom species widely distributed along the water column further emphasizes the ecological significance of far-red light sensing, raising questions about the sources of far-red light. Our analyses indicate that, although far-red wavelengths from sunlight are only detectable at the ocean surface, chlorophyll fluorescence and Raman scattering can generate red/far-red photons in deeper layers. This study opens up novel perspectives on phytochrome-mediated far-red light signaling in the ocean and on the light sensing and adaptive capabilities of marine phototrophs.
Source: The Plant Cell
DOI: 10.1105/tpc.15.00928
Authors: Antonio Emidio Fortunato, Marianne Jaubert, Gen Enomoto, Jean-Pierre Bouly, Raffaella Raniello, Michael Thaler, Shruti Malviya, Juliana Silva Bernardes, Fabrice Rappaport, Bernard Gentili, Marie J.J. Huysman, Alessandra Carbone, Chris Bowler, Maurizio Ribera d’Alcalà, Masahiko Ikeuchi, Angela Falciatore
Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Sorbonne Université, Biologie Computationnelle, Quantitative et Synthétique, Institut de Biologie Paris-Seine, Université Pierre-et-Marie-Curie, The University of Tokyo, Stazione Zoologica Anton Dohrn, Inserm, Université Paris Sciences et Lettres, École Normale Supérieure - PSL, Institut de Biologie de l'École Normale Supérieure, Photobiologie et Physiologie des Plastes et Microalgues, Institut de Biologie Physico-Chimique, Laboratoire d’Océanographie de Villefranche, Ghent University, VIB-UGent Center for Plant Systems Biology, Institut Universitaire de France
Language: English
Topic: Light effects on plants
Subfield: Plant Science
Domain: Life Sciences
SDG: Life below water
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,934
Awards: G1449229046, INITIATIVE D'EXCELLENCE AIX MARSEILLE UNIVERSITE, G1742243815, LABEX pour la modélisation et la simulation scientifiques en recherche, G196500007, Environmental Acclimation of Photosynthesis, G2077424426, G2647246237, G3693125636, G4344075577, G4586079565, G4866930200, New genetic tools for marine diatoms, G5615659713, Sorbonne Universités à Paris pour l'Enseignement et la Recherche, G7240651115, G782245399, Dynamique des membranes transductrices d'énergie : biogénèse et organisation supramoléculaire.
OpenAlex ID: W2292403642