Light-regulated chloroplast morphodynamics in a single-celled dinoflagellate.

ABSTRACT: Photosynthetic algae play a significant role in oceanic carbon capture. However, their performance is constantly challenged by fluctuations in environmental light conditions. While phototaxis is a common strategy to cope with such fluctuations, nonmotile species must adopt alternative mechanisms to avoid light-induced damage. Here, we show that the nonmotile, single-celled marine dinoflagellate Pyrocystis lunula contains a chloroplast network that undergoes strong deformation in response to strong light. By exposing cells to various physiologically relevant light conditions and applying temporal illumination sequences, we find that the light-induced network morphodynamics follows dynamic rules similar to temporal low-pass filtering. We develop a mathematical formalism to model the l

SUBMITTER: Schramma N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11588079 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature