Diel transcriptional oscillations of light-sensitive regulatory elements in open-ocean eukaryotic plankton communities.

ABSTRACT: The 24-h cycle of light and darkness governs daily rhythms of complex behaviors across all domains of life. Intracellular photoreceptors sense specific wavelengths of light that can reset the internal circadian clock and/or elicit distinct phenotypic responses. In the surface ocean, microbial communities additionally modulate nonrhythmic changes in light quality and quantity as they are mixed to different depths. Here, we show that eukaryotic plankton in the North Pacific Subtropical Gyre transcribe genes encoding light-sensitive proteins that may serve as light-activated transcription factors, elicit light-driven electrical/chemical cascades, or initiate secondary messenger-signaling cascades. Overall, the protistan community relies on blue light-sensitive photoreceptors of the cryptochro

SUBMITTER: Coesel SN 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8017926 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature