Scientists uncover cellular process behind oxygen production

Described as “groundbreaking” by a team of researchers at UC San Diego’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography, this previously unknown process accounts for between 7% to 25% of all the oxygen produced and carbon fixed in the ocean. When also considering photosynthesis occurring on land, researchers estimated that this mechanism could be responsible for generating up to 12% of the oxygen on the entire planet.

Scientists have long recognized the significance of phytoplankton — microscopic organisms that drift in aquatic environments — due to their ability to photosynthesize. These tiny oceanic algae form the base of the aquatic food web and are estimated to produce around 50% of the oxygen on Earth.

The new study, published May 31 in the journal Current Biology, identifies how a proton pumping enzyme (known as VHA) aids in global oxygen production and carbon fixation from phytoplankton.

“This study represents a breakthrough in our understanding of marine phytoplankton,” said lead author Daniel Yee, who conducted the research while a PhD student at Scripps Oceanography and currently serves as a joint postdoctoral researcher at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory and University of Grenoble Alpes in France. “Over millions of years of evolution, these small cells in the ocean carry out minute chemical reactions, in particular to produce this mechanism that enhances photosynthesis, that shaped the trajectory of life on this planet.”

Working closely with Scripps physiologist Martín Tresguerres, one of his co-advisors, and other collaborators at Scripps and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Yee unraveled the complex inner workings of a specific group of phytoplankton known as diatoms, which are single-celled algae famous for their ornamental cell walls made of silica.