Tuesday, June 19, 2018

Plants Fess Up - New Type Photosynthesis Discovered

Guess what’s new?


Plants have been holdin’ out on us for years and years.

Yes. It’s a fact.

Plants have two ways to make convert light. Previously, they had let us in on only one type of photosynthesis.

What buggers! (Who knows. Maybe they have more secrets, too!)

Here’s the story:


“The discovery changes our understanding of the basic mechanism of photosynthesis and should rewrite the textbooks.”

“It will also tailor the way we hunt for alien life and provide insights into how we could engineer more efficient crops that take advantage of longer wavelengths of light.”

“The discovery, published today in Science, was led by Imperial College London, supported by the BBSRC, and involved groups from the ANU in Canberra, the CNRS in Paris and Saclay and the CNR in Milan.”

“The vast majority of life on Earth uses visible red light in the process of photosynthesis, but the new type uses near-infrared light instead. It was detected in a wide range of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) when they grow in near-infrared light, found in shaded conditions like bacterial mats in Yellowstone and in beach rock in Australia.”

“As scientists have now discovered, it also occurs in a cupboard fitted with infrared LEDs in Imperial College London.”

Mary Lambert - Secrets (Official) - 2014




No comments: