Red and blue light cues drive contrasting remodeling of lipophilic metabolites and photophysiology in natural benthic diatom biofilms
- 1Museum National d'Histoire Naturelle
Abstract
Intertidal mudflats are low hydrodynamic energy environments hosting microphytobenthic communities that experience strong spatiotemporal variability in light regimes, including changes in spectral quality and light intensity that can lead to cellular photooxidative stress. To cope with these fluctuations, autotrophs exhibit diverse and highly plastic adaptations that are often species-dependent and shaped by their ecological niches. This study investigates photophysiological responses and metabolic remodeling in a diatom assemblage originating from a natural winter microphytobenthic biofilm under contrasting red and blue light intensities. To this end, photosynthetic parameters were monitored alongside changes in lipophilic metabolites, including untargeted lipids and lipophilic pigments. While few metabolites showed temporal remodeling, rapid and contrasting changes were observed within 30 minutes in response to both spectral quality and light intensity. Red light treatments induced broader remodeling of lipophilic metabolites than blue light, whereas blue light appeared to have a greater impact on photosynthetic parameters. Moreover, red light induced xanthophyll-cycle responses comparable to those observed under blue light at equivalent incident intensity. We discuss these metabolic responses in relation to diatom photoadaptive strategies, placing these findings within the intertidal environmental framework. This work further underlines the importance of understanding rapid metabolic plasticity in coping with light fluctuations, providing new insights into the photoregulatory strategies of natural microphytobenthic communities.
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BibTeX
@misc{desparmet2026blue,
title = {{Red and blue light cues drive contrasting remodeling of lipophilic metabolites and photophysiology in natural benthic diatom biofilms}},
author = {A. Desparmet and J. Lavaud and B. Jesus and A. Medico and C. Hubas},
howpublished = {bioRxiv},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.64898/2026.08.30.748109},
url = {https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.30.748109v1},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Red and blue light cues drive contrasting remodeling of lipophilic metabolites and photophysiology in natural benthic diatom biofilms
AU - A. Desparmet
AU - J. Lavaud
AU - B. Jesus
AU - A. Medico
AU - C. Hubas
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/30
PB - bioRxiv
DO - 10.64898/2026.08.30.748109
UR - https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.30.748109v1
AB - Intertidal mudflats are low hydrodynamic energy environments hosting microphytobenthic communities that experience strong spatiotemporal variability in light regimes, including changes in spectral quality and light intensity that can lead to cellular photooxidative stress. To cope with these fluctuations, autotrophs exhibit diverse and highly plastic adaptations that are often species-dependent and shaped by their ecological niches. This study investigates photophysiological responses and metabolic remodeling in a diatom assemblage originating from a natural winter microphytobenthic biofilm under contrasting red and blue light intensities. To this end, photosynthetic parameters were monitored alongside changes in lipophilic metabolites, including untargeted lipids and lipophilic pigments. While few metabolites showed temporal remodeling, rapid and contrasting changes were observed within 30 minutes in response to both spectral quality and light intensity. Red light treatments induced broader remodeling of lipophilic metabolites than blue light, whereas blue light appeared to have a greater impact on photosynthetic parameters. Moreover, red light induced xanthophyll-cycle responses comparable to those observed under blue light at equivalent incident intensity. We discuss these metabolic responses in relation to diatom photoadaptive strategies, placing these findings within the intertidal environmental framework. This work further underlines the importance of understanding rapid metabolic plasticity in coping with light fluctuations, providing new insights into the photoregulatory strategies of natural microphytobenthic communities.
ER -