This article was automatically translated from HIBAPRESS, the Arabic version:
HIBAPRESS-RABAT- CNRS
Scientists from the French Center for Scientific Research (CNRS) and the Sorbonne have discovered that diatoms, a species of microalgae phytoplankton, use sensors of light variations codified in their genomes, “phytochromes”.
“The phytoplankton that inhabit the oceans are recognized as playing a major role in marine ecosystems and in climate regulation. Like terrestrial plants, it fixes atmospheric CO2 and produces half of the oxygen on our planet through photosynthesis.
Phytochromes thus allow them to “detect changes in the light spectrum in the water column and thus inform them of their vertical position in this column, we specify.
This function is “particularly important” in changing aquatic environments subject to significant water mixing, such as high latitude, temperate and polar regions, in order to adjust their biological activity and in particular photosynthesis.
