France, Feb. 18 -- Project Id: 124896
Description: Project description
Exploring light-dependent reactions that maximise phytoplankton photosynthesis
Photosynthesis, an important biological process on Earth, has permitted the colonisation of land and sea by plants and phytoplankton, respectively. Research is now focused on elucidating this process in phytoplankton. From an energy point of view, a microalga is a 'vehicle' containing mitochondria - a combustion engine using carbon to produce energy and CO2, and chloroplast - a solar panel using light to produce energy and O2. Using optogenetic approaches and cellular/subcellular imaging, the EU-funded ChloroMito project will investigate the hypothesis that the photosynthetic efficiency of ...