Red algae acclimate to low light by modifying phycobilisome composition to maintain efficient light harvesting.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Despite a global prevalence of photosynthetic organisms in the ocean's mesophotic zone (30-200+ m depth), the mechanisms that enable photosynthesis to proceed in this low light environment are poorly defined. Red coralline algae are the deepest known marine benthic macroalgae - here we investigated the light harvesting mechanism and mesophotic acclimatory response of the red coralline alga Lithothamnion glaciale.

Results

Following initial absorption by phycourobilin and phycoerythrobilin in phycoerythrin, energy was transferred from the phycobilisome to photosystems I and II within 120 ps. This enabled delivery of 94% of excitations to reaction centres. Low light intensity, and to a lesser extent a mesophotic spectrum, caused significant acclimatory change in chro

SUBMITTER: Voerman SE 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9794408 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature