Sea Slugs use Photosynthesis

[toastywombel]

Interesting article I found:

 

"The kleptomaniac sea slug Elysia chlorotica feeds on algae by sucking out the innards of filaments. The slug takes in the little algal organelles for photosynthesizing and, researchers now say, can also manufacture the compound, chlorophyll."

 

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/53496/title/Sea_slug_steals_genes_for_greens%2C_makes_chlorophyll_like_a_plant

[Genecks]

The article is sweet like maraschino cherries.

 

“This could be a fusion of a plant and an animal — that’s just cool,” said invertebrate zoologist John Zardus of The Citadel in Charleston, S.C.

 

 

Lamarckian evolution, for the win:

There have been previous hints, however, that the chloroplasts in the slug don’t run on stored-up supplies alone. Starting in 2007, Pierce and his colleagues, as well as another team, found several photosynthesis-related genes in the slugs apparently lifted directly from the algae. Even unhatched sea slugs, which have never encountered algae, carry “algal” photosynthetic genes.

Edited January 14, 2010 by Genecks

[toastywombel]

Yeah I thought it was a great article too very interesting.

 

I thought of a future, without food, where we use the dna from the slug and somehow combine it with human. Then maybe we could produce by ourselves with sunlight and CO2, but we would all probably be green.

[Mr Skeptic]

A neat thought, but we don't have the surface area to survive lying down in the sun, let alone actually moving around, were we to be powered by photosynthesis. Not to mention how very much sunshine we get nowadays...

[toastywombel]

A neat thought, but we don't have the surface area to survive lying down in the sun, let alone actually moving around, were we to be powered by photosynthesis. Not to mention how very much sunshine we get nowadays...

 

Well of course we might be able to make some advancements and improvements through mutation here and there. I guess your right about the amount of energy you would get from that though, but it would lessen the amount we need to eat.

[TheDrBraniac]

Interesting article I found:

 

"The kleptomaniac sea slug Elysia chlorotica feeds on algae by sucking out the innards of filaments. The slug takes in the little algal organelles for photosynthesizing and, researchers now say, can also manufacture the compound, chlorophyll."

 

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/53496/title/Sea_slug_steals_genes_for_greens%2C_makes_chlorophyll_like_a_plant

 

Cool, its true. My teacher told me about it. I think it ate the cyanobacteria inside the algae and used it to photosynthesize. Sweet idea on using it for animals and humans. Pray we won't become hulk!

[CharonY]

Lamarckian evolution, for the win:

Uh, no. It is called horizontal gene transfer.

[cscwaters]

hi. ive never done this befor but could annybody tell me if scientisit have ever tried work on synthetically generating the photosynthetic process???

[toastywombel]

Photo voltaic Cells (solar panels) have been used for decades to convert sunlight into use-able energy.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photovoltaic_module

 

Yes, scientists can recreate photosynthesis in some fashion, though the methods are not yet perfected.

 

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1454&dat=19801128&id=BsgsAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RRMEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7199,7518441

[Greippi]

hi. ive never done this befor but could annybody tell me if scientisit have ever tried work on synthetically generating the photosynthetic process???

A major area of research right now is the actual architecture of photosynthetic membranes. Turns out the arrangement of the photosynthetic complexes in the membrane plays a vital role in the efficiency of the system. The more we know about this, the more effectively we can create an artificial system.

 

If anyone's interested I have quite a few references on the topic.

[cscwaters]

cheers....

it sounds great

[JP]

A major area of research right now is the actual architecture of photosynthetic membranes. Turns out the arrangement of the photosynthetic complexes in the membrane plays a vital role in the efficiency of the system. The more we know about this, the more effectively we can create an artificial system.

 

If anyone's interested I have quite a few references on the topic.

 

I'd actually be fairly interested in seeing that. It's amazing what we can learn (sometimes, at least) by replicating things that nature has taken billions of years to perfect.

[Rip:20]

Uh, no. It is called horizontal gene transfer.

 

+1

 

HGT for the win.

 

And this is not the first time HGT has been found in multicellular Euks as mentioned in the article. Aphids got their carotenoid genes from fungi and bdelloid rotifers pick up all kinds of DNA during their repair process from desiccation (may or may not be expressed).

[kitkat]

The article is sweet like maraschino cherries.

 

nature gently reminds us humans that think we have it all figured out, the sea slug comes along and tells you we do not even know half of it.

 

 

Lamarckian evolution, for the win:

[Maximilian]

Apparently some Ambystomatids are trying to keep up with the Elysia! http://www.nature.com/news/2010/100730/full/news.2010.384.html

 

They probably still need a few millennium to figure out the gene transfer though, that is, if we don't kill them off before that.