Deep Sea Plants Perform Photosynthesis

A team of researchers led by Associate Professor Ritsuko Fujii, from the Research Center for Artificial Photosynthesis (ReCAP) at Osaka Metropolitan University, and graduate student Soichiro Seki, from the Graduate School of Science at Osaka City University, aimed to fill this gap in knowledge.

They used cryogenic electron microscopy to investigate the structures and binding environments of pigments bound to the photosynthetic antenna of C. fragile. The results allow for the elucidation of the molecular mechanism by which blue-green light—the only light available in deep seawater—is efficiently utilised for photosynthesis.

How land and deep sea plants perform differently

Land plants mainly absorb red and blue light from the sun and use it for photosynthesis. However, only weak blue-green light reaches the ocean floor. Therefore, macroalgae growing in the ocean have developed a protein, a so-called photosynthetic antenna, that efficiently utilises this blue-green light.

The photosynthetic antenna of marine macroalgae is very similar to that of land plants, but differs in the structure of the pigments bound to it. Land plants have two types of pigments bound to their photosynthetic antennae, namely carotenoids and chlorophylls.

In the marine green macroalga Codium fragile, the major carotenoids are substituted with siphonaxanthin while some chlorophyll a molecules are replaced by chlorophyll b molecules.

Siphonaxanthin and chlorophyll b are known to contribute to increased absorption of green light and blue-green light, respectively, but how this contributes to photosynthesis has not yet been fully understood.

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