A new study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences has shown for the first time that several types of aquatic algae can detect orange, green and blue light.

Land plants have receptors to detect light on the red and far red of the spectrum, which are the common wavelengths in the air. These plants sense the light to move and grow as their environment changes, for example when another plant shades them from the sun. But in the ocean, the water absorbs red wavelengths, instead reflecting colours such as blue and green. As part of the study, a team of researchers including Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) Senior Fellow Alexandra Worden sequenced about 20 different marine algae and found they were capable of detecting not only red light, but also many other colours. Collaborators in the lab of J. Clark Lagarias performed the biochemical analyses that established the wavelength detection.

"It's an amazing innovation of these algae to sense the whole rainbow," says Dr. Worden, who leads a microbial ecology research group at Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute in California. She is a member of CIFAR's Integrated Microbial Biodiversity program, which uses interdisciplinary research to study how a diversity of microbial life shapes all ecosystems. Her lab selected and grew the algae for sequencing in a collaborative effort with CIFAR Fellow Adrián Reyes-Prieto, who she first met at the Institute's program meetings. They specifically targeted diverse but largely unstudied organisms that might reveal new evolutionary insights into photosynthetic organisms. The Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation accepted sequencing nominations from Dr. Worden and provided sequencing funds in support of understanding eukaryotic algae.

"The phytoplankton in the oceans are, of course, really important to regulating our climate, and we just never knew that they were able to sense our environment in this way," she says.

Dr. Worden says her collaborators are interested in understanding the origins of photosynthetic life, in part because it played a crucial role in allowing other life forms, including humans, to exist. The research could also help with food production by teaching us ways to engineer crops so they will grow in many light conditions.

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This article will be available at: http://www. pnas. org/ cgi/ doi/ 10. 1073/ pnas. 1401871111 .

Authors on this paper include Nathan C. Rockwell, Deqiang Duanmu, Shelley S. Martin, Charles Bachy, Dana C. Price, Debashish Bhattacharya, Alexandra Z. Worden, and J. Clark Lagarias.

About CIFAR

CIFAR brings together extraordinary scholars and scientists from around the world to address questions of global importance. Based in Toronto, Canada, CIFAR is a global research organization comprising nearly 400 Fellows, Scholars and Advisors from more than 100 institutions in 16 countries. CIFAR aims to generate transformative knowledge at the frontiers of understanding, to catalyze innovation and resolution of the world's major challenges, and to advance the careers of promising young researchers. Established in 1982, CIFAR partners with the Government of Canada, provincial governments, individuals, foundations, corporations and research institutions to extend our impact in the world.

For more information, or to arrange an interview with Alexandra Worden, please contact:

Lindsay Jolivet, Writer & Media Relations Specialist, CIFAR, at 416-971-4876 or lindsay.jolivet@cifar.ca