Abstract:
Marine life is populated by a huge diversity of organisms with an incredible range of colour. While structural colour mechanisms and functions are usually well studied in marine animal species, there is a huge knowledge gap regarding the marine macroalgae (red, green and brown seaweeds) that have structural coloration and the biological significance of this phenomenon in these photosynthetic organisms. Here we show that structural colour in the gametophyte life history phase of the red alga Chondrus crispus plays an important role as a photoprotective mechanism in synergy with the other pigments present. In particular, we have demonstrated that blue structural coloration attenuates the more energetic light while simultaneously favouring green and red light harvesting through the external antennae (phycobilisomes) which possess an intensity-dependent photoprotection mechanism. These insights into the relationship between structural colour and photosynthetic light management further our understanding of the mechanisms involved.
摘要:
海洋生物由具有令人难以置信的颜色范围的大量生物组成。虽然结构颜色机制和功能通常在海洋动物物种中得到很好的研究,关于海洋大型藻类(红色,绿色和棕色海藻)具有结构着色以及这种现象在这些光合生物中的生物学意义。在这里,我们表明,红色藻类Chondruscrispus的配子体生活史阶段的结构颜色在与存在的其他色素协同作用中作为光保护机制起着重要作用。特别是,我们已经证明,蓝色结构着色会衰减更高能的光,同时有利于通过具有强度依赖性光保护机制的外部ae天线(藻胆体)捕获绿光和红光。这些对结构颜色与光合光管理之间关系的见解进一步加深了我们对所涉及机制的理解。