plant-science-2018-posters-abstracts

9 / 34

Page 84
conferenceseries.com
Volume 6 Journal of Plant Biochemistry & Physiology
ISSN: 2329-9029 Plant Science 2018
October 29-30, 2018
October 29-30, 2018 | Valencia, Spain
6th Global Summit on Plant Science
Light effects on the calcification and morphology of Padina spp.
Miriam Benita, David Iluz and Dubinsky Zvy
Bar Ilan University, Israel
Padina pavonica is one of the common macro-algae that inhabit coastal inter-tidal zones around the world. It is one of
the two brown algae known to science today that calcifies. Padina spp. is an extracellular calcifying macroalgae with
microscopic morphology of aragonite (CaCO3) needle-shaped, seeing mainly on the ventral side of the thallus as a white stripes.
There are some theories about the benefits of the aragonite needles, such as protection against grazers, mechanical support in
turbulent water, high radiation protection during low tides, and more. In order to understand the benefits and the evolutionary
adaptation of the aragonite needles, we conducted several light gradient experiments on Padina spp. Samples Padina pavonica
were collected at Tel Baruch Beach, Israel (32°N34°E). The results show that under high light the algae possessed more CaCO3
(%Wt) and with it, the color of the reproduction cells on the dorsal side of the thallus, right behind the aragonite strips, become
brighter and transparent. The reproduction cells also released earlier to the water column, and their essentiality seems to be
damaged. We also found that during full moon light, the aragonite stripes are 40% wider than under new moon. To conclude,
this alga is well adapted to light under low tide and to the Israeli sun radiation which shines most of the year. Furthermore,
the calcification of the needle-shaped aragonite in the thallus of Padina spp. could possibly be an adaptation to the high light
energy allowing the algae to settle and dominate the coastal regions.
Recent Publications
1. Sherman A, Rubinstein M, Eshed R, Benita M, Ish Shalom M, Sharabi Schwager M, Rozen A, Saada D, Cohen Y and
Ophir R (2015) Mango (Mangifera indica L.) germplasm diversity based on single nucleotide polymorphisms derived
from the transcriptome. BMC Plant Biology 15:277.
2. BenitaM, Dubinsky Z and Iluz David (2018) Padina pavonica: morphology and calcification functions andmechanism.
American Journal of Plant Science 9(6):1156-1168.
Biography
Miriam Benita has her BSc in Life Science at the Open University, Israel; MSc in Marin Biology at Bar Ilan University, Ramat-Gan, Israel, and a present PhD Marine
Biology student at Bar-Ilan University. Her research is on the macro-algae Padina spp. which grows on abrasion platforms on the Israeli shores. Her research focus
on the morphology of the Padina spp. and the unique pattern in which the algae precipitate CaCO3 in the young part of the frond compare to the old part, and the
evolutionary necessity of this precipitation.
Miriam Benita et al., J Plant Biochem Physiol 2018, Volume 6
DOI: 10.4172/2329-9029-C1-003
Figure 1: Macro and micro morphology of Padina pavonica. a. Part of a thallus of a full grown alga. b. The apical young part of the thallus showing
inrolled margin, Axio Z1 light microscopy after histology protocol. c. Needle shaped CaCO3 crystals precipitation in the young parts of the thallus,
Ouanta FEG 250 ESEM. d. Amorphous CaCO3 precipitation in the old parts of the thallus, Ouanta FEG 250 ESEM. e. The rhizoids. A roots-like
filaments which helps the algae to attached to a solid surface, Ouanta FEG 250 ESEM.