"Marine Algae Can Sense the Rainbow"

February 2014

"Marine Algae Can Sense the Rainbow"

Link: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/02/140224171434.htm

     According to new research published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, several types of aquatic algae can detect orange, green and blue light. Land plants have receptors to detect light on the red and far red of the spectrum, the common wavelengths in the air. These plants sense the light to move and grow as their environment changes. For example, when another plant shades them from the sun, they can move to grow accordingly. However, in the ocean, the water absorbs red wavelengths, instead reflecting colors such as blue and green.
     This study, run by a team of researchers including Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) and Senior Fellow Alexandra Worden, sequenced about 20 different marine algae and found they were able to detect not only red light, but also many other colors. To establish this wavelength detection, collaborators in the lab of J. Clark Lagarias performed biochemical analyses.
     Dr. Worden's lab selected and grew the algae for sequencing in a collaborative effort with CIFAR Fellow Adrián Reyes-Prieto. They "targeted diverse but largely unstudied organisms that might reveal new evolutionary insights into photosynthetic organisms." Dr. Worden' explains the significance of her study: "The phytoplankton in the oceans are, of course, really important to regulating our climate, and we just never knew that they were able to sense our environment in this way."