title: Ecology: a niche for cyanobacteria containing chlorophyll d.
abstract: The cyanobacterium known as Acaryochloris marina is a unique phototroph that uses chlorophyll d as its principal light-harvesting pigment instead of chlorophyll a, the form commonly found in plants, algae and other cyanobacteria; this means that it depends on far-red light for photosynthesis. Here we demonstrate photosynthetic activity in Acaryochloris-like phototrophs that live underneath minute coral-reef invertebrates (didemnid ascidians) in a shaded niche enriched in near-infrared light. This discovery clarifies how these cyanobacteria are able to thrive as free-living organisms in their natural habitat.
authors.affiliation: Marine Biological Laboratory, Institute of Biology, University of Copenhagen, 3000 Helsingør, Denmark. mkuhl@bi.ku.dk
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kühl
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Peter J
authors.initials: PJ
authors.lastname: Ralph
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Schreiber
authors.forename: Anthony W D
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Larkum
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002734:Chlorophyll / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism*; D000458:Cyanobacteria / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D017753:Ecosystem; D010788:Photosynthesis; D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex / Q000378:metabolism; D013559:Symbiosis; D014561:Urochordata / Q000382:microbiology*
chemical_list: D045332:Photosystem II Protein Complex; D002734:Chlorophyll; C107509:chlorophyll d