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NSF PR 01-50 - June 13, 2001
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Widespread Oceanic Photopigments Convert Light
into Energy
A new energy-generating, light-absorbing pigment called
proteorhodopsin is widespread in the world's oceans,
say scientists funded by the National Science Foundation
(NSF) and affiliated with the Monterey Bay Aquarium
Research Institute (MBARI). Their discovery is reported
in this week's issue of the journal Nature.
Last fall in the journal Science, the MBARI
researchers described the first marine bacterium with
this photopigment that can generate cellular energy
using light.
"Advances in technology are letting us view the marine
microbial world in new ways," said Ed DeLong, leader
of the MBARI research group. Colleague Oded Béjà added,
"We were lucky to find these different proteorhodopsins
out there in the vast ocean."
In the recent study, samples of oceanic bacteria collected
from Monterey Bay, Antarctica, and Hawaii were analyzed
for the presence of active photopigment. In collaboration
with John and Elena Spudich from the University of
Texas Medical School, the scientists used laser flash
spectroscopic techniques on naturally occurring marine
microbes to search for the new photochemical activity
in oceanic waters. The scientists observed chemical
activity stimulated by light flashes in native marine
microbes, similar to the activity seen in earlier
laboratory studies of proteorhodopsin and bacteriorhodopsin.
These observations showed that the microbes and active
photopigment were present in abundance at the ocean's
surface.
The researchers also showed that genetic variants of
the photoactive microbes contain different proteorhodopsins
in different ocean habitats. The protein pigments
appear to be tuned to absorb light of different wavelengths
that match the quality of light available in different
environments. Specific adaptations in the photopigment
structure have optimized different variants functioning
best at different depths in the water column.
DeLong and his colleagues are excited by the implications
of this research. The study takes the initial laboratory
observations to the sea, showing how widespread this
photopigment is throughout the world's oceans. In
addition, the concentration of the photopigment suggests
that it has the capacity to generate a significant
amount of energy for oceanic microbes.
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