0 August 2014 — Bacteria that grow in environments enriched in far-red light use a previously unknown process for harvesting energy. This discovery lays the foundation for further research aimed at improving plant growth and harvesting energy from the Sun, and understanding dense blooms like those now occurring on Lake Erie and other lakes worldwide. A paper describing the discovery will be published in the Science Express edition of the journal Science on 21 August 2014.
"We have shown that some cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, can grow in far-red wavelengths of light, a range not seen well by most humans," said Donald A. Bryant, the Ernest C. Pollard Professor of Biotechnology and a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State. "Most cyanobacteria can't 'see' this light either. But we have found a new subgroup that can absorb and use far-red light, and we have discovered some of the surprising ways they manipulate their genes in order to grow using only these wavelengths," he said.
The scientists discovered that a cyanobacterial strain, named Leptolyngbya species strain JSC-1, completely changes its photosynthetic apparatus in order to use far-red light, which includes wavelengths longer than 700 nanometers (up to about 800 nm) -- a little longer than the range of light that most people can see. The experiments by Bryant's team revealed that these cyanobacteria replace seventeen proteins in three major light-using complexes while also making two new chlorophyll pigments that can capture the far-red light. The cells also use accessory pigments called bilins in new ways. The scientists also discovered that the organisms accomplish this feat very quickly by turning on a large number of genes to modify cellular metabolism and by simultaneously turning off a large number of other genes -- a process that they have named Far-Red Light Photoacclimation (FaRLiP).
0 August 2014 — Bacteria that grow in environments enriched in far-red light use a previously unknown process for harvesting energy. This discovery lays the foundation for further research aimed at improving plant growth and harvesting energy from the Sun, and understanding dense blooms like those now occurring on Lake Erie and other lakes worldwide. A paper describing the discovery will be published in the Science Express edition of the journal Science on 21 August 2014.
"We have shown that some cyanobacteria, also called blue-green algae, can grow in far-red wavelengths of light, a range not seen well by most humans," said Donald A. Bryant, the Ernest C. Pollard Professor of Biotechnology and a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State. "Most cyanobacteria can't 'see' this light either. But we have found a new subgroup that can absorb and use far-red light, and we have discovered some of the surprising ways they manipulate their genes in order to grow using only these wavelengths," he said.
The scientists discovered that a cyanobacterial strain, named Leptolyngbya species strain JSC-1, completely changes its photosynthetic apparatus in order to use far-red light, which includes wavelengths longer than 700 nanometers (up to about 800 nm) -- a little longer than the range of light that most people can see. The experiments by Bryant's team revealed that these cyanobacteria replace seventeen proteins in three major light-using complexes while also making two new chlorophyll pigments that can capture the far-red light. The cells also use accessory pigments called bilins in new ways. The scientists also discovered that the organisms accomplish this feat very quickly by turning on a large number of genes to modify cellular metabolism and by simultaneously turning off a large number of other genes -- a process that they have named Far-Red Light Photoacclimation (FaRLiP).
การแปล กรุณารอสักครู่..