Growth and Photosynthetic Efficiency of Microalgae and Plants with Different Levels of Complexity Exposed to a Simulated M-Dwarf Starlight.

ABSTRACT: Oxygenic photosynthetic organisms (OPOs) are primary producers on Earth and generate surface and atmospheric biosignatures, making them ideal targets to search for life from remote on Earth-like exoplanets orbiting stars different from the Sun, such as M-dwarfs. These stars emit very low light in the visible and most light in the far-red, an issue for OPOs, which mostly utilize visible light to photosynthesize and grow. After successfully testing procaryotic OPOs (cyanobacteria) under a simulated M-dwarf star spectrum (M7, 365-850 nm) generated through a custom-made lamp, we tested several eukaryotic OPOs: microalgae (Dixoniella giordanoi, Microchloropsis gaditana, Chromera velia, Chlorella vulgaris), a non-vascular plant (Physcomitrium patens), and a vas

SUBMITTER: Battistuzzi M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10455698 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature