New twist on life's power source(area of the worlds oceans so they repres...)

Date:3/11/2008

area of the worlds oceans, so they represent a large portion of the Earths surface available for photosynthesis, says Mackey. Our findings show that this novel cycle occurs in two major ocean basins and suggest that a substantial amount of energy from sunlight gets re-routed away from carbon fixation during photosynthesis. This may mean that less carbon dioxide is being removed from the atmosphere by the open ocean photosynthetic organisms than was previously believed.

This discovery represents a paradigm shift in our view of photosynthesis by organisms in the vast, nutrient-starved areas of the open ocean, says Joe Berry of the Carnegie Institutions Department of Global Ecology. We had assumed that like higher plants, the goal was to make carbohydrates from carbon dioxide and store them for later use as a source of energy for any number of cellular functions or growth. We now know that some organisms short-circuit this complicated process, using light in a minimalist way to power cellular processes directly with a far simpler and cheaper (in terms of scarce nutrients such as iron) photosynthetic apparatus. We don't know the full significance of this finding yet, but it is certain to change the way we interpret optical measurements of photosynthetic pigments in the ocean and the way we model ocean productivity.

Wolf Frommer, director of the Carnegie Institutions Department of Plant Biology, agrees about the discoverys ground-breaking importance. If we thought we have understood photosynthesis, this study proves that there is much to be learned about these basic physiological processes. The findings of Grossmans laboratory together with previous evidence reported by Greg Vanlerberghe from the University of Toronto showing that the gene encoding PTOX appears to be widespread in marine cyanobacteria will add depth and a mechanistic foundation for the modeling of primary productivity in the ocean.

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Contact: Arthur Grossman arthurg@stanford.edu 650-325-1521 x212 Carnegie Institution Source:Eurekalert

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