Uncovering a unique light-harvesting structure in marine algae

Haptophytes—the unicellular photosynthetic marine algae—are one of the major contributors to marine biomass. Scientists at Okayama University, Japan, unveil the first high-resolution structure of the photosystem II–FCPII (photosynthetic supercomplex) in a marine haptophyte, Chrysotila roscoffensis. This discovery sheds light on the unique approach of sunlight capture and energy management by the complex, offering new insights into marine biology and potential advances in artificial photosynthesis technology.

BG - Remote sensing of coccolithophore blooms in selected oceanic regions using the PhytoDOAS method applied to hyper-spectral satellite data

A Bloom in a Changing Barents Sea

A break in the clouds offered a glimpse of phytoplankton north of Norway, Finland, and Russia.

'Friend or foe' bacteria kill their algal hosts when coexisting is no longer beneficial

Scientists have detailed a lifestyle switch that occurs in marine bacteria, in which they change from coexisting with algae hosts in a mutually beneficial interaction to suddenly killing them. The results are published today in eLife.