Microalgae and Climate Change

According to research findings of Nature Microbiology, microalgae are firing up a light-responsive protein to use sunlight for growth, which is enhancing in the contemporary times of climate change.

• Microalgae, which form the base of the food chain in the ocean and capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, appear to rely on a unique strategy to cope with global warming.
• As climate change reduces the availability of nutrients in the sea, marine microalgae or eukaryotic phytoplankton fire up a protein called rhodopsin.
• It is related to the protein in the human eye responsible for vision in dim light.
• This light-responsive protein is helping the microalgae flourish with the help of sunlight in place of traditional chlorophyll. 

Impact of Climate Change on Microalgae:

• As climate change reduces the availability of nutrients in the sea, marine microalgae or eukaryotic phytoplankton fire up a protein called
• It is related to the protein in the human eye responsible for vision in dim light.
• This light-responsive protein is helping the microalgae flourish with the help of sunlight in place of traditional chlorophyll. 

Microbial Rhodopsins:

• They are proposed to be major light capturers in the ocean. Estimates suggested they may absorb as much light as chlorophyll-based photosynthesis in the sea, which also captures light to generate energy and food. However, their biological role in these organisms was unclear before the study.
• Global warming is increasing drought on land and the same thing happens in the ocean, the warmer the surface water gets, the lower are the nutrients in these surface water layers.
• There is less mixing between the surface waters and nutrient-rich deeper waters as the oceans warm. So nutrients become scarce at the surface, impacting the primary producers such as microalgae that are present in the top layer.
• Algae starve and, therefore, produce less food and capture less carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
• In these areas, the capacity of algae to make food and take up carbon dioxide should be much more reduced similar to reduced crop yield on land if iron- and nitrogen-rich fertilisers are scarce.

The Location of phenomena:

• This phenomenon is particularly relevant for the Southern Ocean, which is the largest iron-limited aquatic ecosystem. But they are home to the largest populations of consumers such as krill, fish, penguins and whales, which depend on primary producers such as microalgae.

Way Forward:

• According to the researchers, these phenomena have the potential to reduce the negative effects of changing environmental conditions, such as ocean warming and even the reduction in the productivity of crops.
• The same mechanism could be deployed to enhance the activity of microbes that cannot use light, such as yeast.
• It can be modified so that they can use light for growth, which is desirable in biotechnology, such as the production of insulin, antibiotics, enzymes, antivirals and even biofuel.