ADAPTATION OF PHYTOPLANKTON TO POLAR REGIONS: SURVIVAL STRATEGIES DURING THE ARCTIC WINTER – PhytoPol

Phytoplankton is responsible for about half of the photosynthesis on the planet. In polar regions, phototrophic organisms need to survive during long periods of darkness occurring in winter. However survival mechanisms remain mysterious and uncovering them is a key to understand how primary production is sustained in polar regions. Until now studies have been hampered by the difficulty of access especially in winter. The Norwegian project Micropolar to which the two french PIs are associated offers a unique opportunity to sample polar waters every two months for two years, including during winter. PhytoPol will take advantage of this to address the question of the survival of phytoplankton during long darkness. It is structured in three tasks: i) Establish and characterize dominant polar photosynthetic pico- and nano-eukaryote strains/species, ii) In vitro analysis of the mechanism(s) used to survive long periods in the dark., and iii) Molecular mechanism of adaptation to darkness.