Life Sciences Commons^™

Identifying Novel Pharmacogenetic Markers For Cancer Treatments: Exploiting Cancers Deficient In The Nucleotide Pool Sanitizing Hydrolases Nudt15 And Nudt18, Jacob Chandler Massey

Theses and Dissertations

The NUDIX hydrolases are a super family of enzymes with purported enzymatic activities of nucleotide hydrolases. The activity of the founding member, NUDT1 (also known as MTH1) is established to be a nucleotide hydrolase for d-8-oxoGTP, which is a mutagenic precursor if incorporated into DNA. Therefore, its activity serves to sanitize the nucleotide pool of mutagenic precursors. While known to be highly conserved among all organisms, the enzymatic and biological functions for nearly all the family members remain largely unexplored and unknown. Substrates of family members have been found to include canonical (deoxy)nucleotide triphosphates, oxidized (deoxy)nucleotide triphosphates, and non-nucleoside polyphosphates. …

Impact Of A Novel Marine Algae Supplement On Inflammatory And Immune Response After High-Intensity Exercise, Caroline Sara Vincenty

Theses and Dissertations

INTRODUCTION: High-intensity exercise (HIE) can damage the musculotendon complex and impact the immune response, which may result in post-exercise inflammation and reductions in strength and performance. Sufficient rest and recovery will improve muscular resilience against future damaging bouts, however HIE with minimal durations of rest are common in athletic competitions that facilitate persistent inflammation and immune dysregulation. Marine algae-derived fucoidans (MA) have previously shown promise to mitigate pro-inflammatory and immune dysregulation responses, however it has not been investigated in the context of HIE. The purpose of this research is to investigate the safety and efficacy of MA on markers of …

Mechanisms Of Connectivity In Neuronal Development, Janay Vacharasin

Theses and Dissertations

The development of neuronal connectivity requires the careful orchestration of multiple cellular processes including the control of neuronal arborization and synapse formation or function. Defects in these processes during neuronal development will give rise to disorders of neuronal connectivity like autism. In the present work, we examine the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms that build the neuronal wiring of the developing brain. We use human stem cell-derived neurons to study neuronal arborization and function focusing on genetic and environmental risk factors of neurodevelopmental disorders that include autism and intellectual disability. Specifically, we focused on the contribution of the endomembrane, chromatin, and …

Influence Of Guideline Operationalization On Youth Activity Prevalence In The International Children’S Accelerometry Database, Catherine Gammon, Andrew J. Atkin, Kirsten Corder, Ulf Ekelund, Bjorge Herman Hansen, Lauren B. Sherar, Lars Bo Anderson, Sigmund Anderssen, Rachel Davey, Pedro C. Hallal, Russell Jago, Susi Kriemler, Peter Lund Kristensen, Soyang Kwon, Kate Nothstone, Russell R. Pate Ph.D., J. O. Salmon, Luis B. Sardinha, Esther M.F. Sluijs

Faculty Publications

Introduction

The United Kingdom and World Health Organization recently changed their youth physical activity (PA) guidelines from 60 min of moderate- to vigorous-intensity PA (MVPA) every day, to an average of 60 min of MVPA per day, over a week. The changes are based on expert opinion due to insufficient evidence comparing health outcomes associated with different guideline definitions. This study used the International Children’s Accelerometry Database to compare approaches to calculating youth PA compliance and associations with health indicators.

Methods

Cross-sectional accelerometer data (n = 21,612, 5–18 yr) were used to examine compliance with four guideline definitions: daily …

Table Of Contents

Journal of the South Carolina Academy of Science

No abstract provided.

Luminescence And Scintillation In The Niobium Doped Oxyfluoride Rb4Ge5O9F6:Nb, Darren Carone, Vladislav V. Klepov, Scott T. Misture, Joseph C. Schaeperkoetter, Luiz G. Jacobsohn, Mina Aziziha, Juliano Schorne-Pinto, Stuart A. J. Thomson, Adrian T. Hines, Theodore M. Besmann, Hans Conrad Zur Loye

Faculty Publications

A new niobium-doped inorganic scintillating oxyfluoride, Rb₄Ge₅O₉F₆:Nb, was synthesized in single crystal form by high-temperature flux growth. The host structure, Rb₄Ge₅O₉F₆, crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pbcn with lattice parameters a = 6.98430(10) Å, b = 11.7265(2) Å, and c = 19.2732(3) Å, consisting of germanium oxyfluoride layers made up of Ge₃O₉ units connected by GeO₃F₃ octahedra. In its pure form, Rb₄Ge₅O₉F₆ shows neither luminescence nor scintillation but when doped …

Long Chain Fatty Acids And Virulence Repression In Intestinal Bacterial Pathogens, Mary K. Mitchell, Melissa Ellermann

Faculty Publications

When bacterial pathogens enter the gut, they encounter a complex milieu of signaling molecules and metabolites produced by host and microbial cells or derived from external sources such as the diet. This metabolomic landscape varies throughout the gut, thus establishing a biogeographical gradient of signals that may be sensed by pathogens and resident bacteria alike. Enteric bacterial pathogens have evolved elaborate mechanisms to appropriately regulate their virulence programs, which involves sensing and responding to many of these gut metabolites to facilitate successful gut colonization. Long chain fatty acids (LCFAs) represent major constituents of the gut metabolome that can impact bacterial …

Environmental And Biological Controls On Sedimentary Bottom Types In The Puquios Of The Salar De Llamara, Northern Chile, Erica P. Suosaari, Amanda M. Oehlert, Ioan Lascu, Alan W. Decho, Alan M. Piggot, Alvaro T. Palma, Paul F. Machabee, R. Pamela Reid

Faculty Publications

The Puquios of the Salar de Llamara in the Atacama Desert, northern Chile, is a system of small lakes that is characterized by evaporitic mineral deposition and that commonly hosts microbial communities. This region is known for its extreme aridity, solar irradiance, and temperature fluctuations. The Puquios are a highly diverse ecosystem with a variety of sedimentary bottom types. Our previous results identified electrical conductivity (EC) as a first-order environmental control on bottom types. In the present paper, we extend our analysis to examine the effects of additional environmental parameters on bottom types and to consider reasons for the importance …

Intra-Axonal Translation Of Khsrp Mrna Slows Axon Regeneration By Destabilizing Localized Mrnas, Priyanka Patel, Courtney N. Buchanan, Matthew D. Zdradzinski, Pabitra K. Sahoo, Amar N. Kar, Seung Joon Lee, Lauren S. Vaughn, Anatoly Urisman, Juan Oses-Prieto, Michela Dell'orco, Devon E. Cassidy, Irene Dalla Costa, Sharmina Miller, Elizabeth Thames, Terika P. Smith, Alma L. Burlingame, Nora Perrone-Bizzozero, Jeffery L. Twiss

Faculty Publications

Axonally synthesized proteins support nerve regeneration through retrograde signaling and local growth mechanisms. RNA binding proteins (RBP) are needed for this and other aspects of post-transcriptional regulation of neuronal mRNAs, but only a limited number of axonal RBPs are known. We used targeted proteomics to profile RBPs in peripheral nerve axons. We detected 76 proteins with reported RNA binding activity in axoplasm, and levels of several change with axon injury and regeneration. RBPs with altered levels include KHSRP that decreases neurite outgrowth in developing CNS neurons. Axonal KHSRP levels rapidly increase after injury remaining elevated up to 28 days post …

Estimating Cardiorespiratory Fitness Without Exercise Testing Or Physical Activity Status In Healthy Adults: Regression Model Development And Validation, Robert Sloan, Marco Visentini-Scarzanella, Susumu Sawada, Xuemei Sui M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D.

Faculty Publications

Background: Low cardiorespiratory fitness (CRF) is an independent predictor of morbidity and mortality. Most health care settings use some type of electronic health record (EHR) system. However, many EHRs do not have CRF or physical activity data collected, thereby limiting the types of investigations and analyses that can be done.

Objective: This study aims to develop a nonexercise equation to estimate and classify CRF (in metabolic equivalent tasks) using variables commonly available in EHRs.

Methods: Participants were 42,676 healthy adults (female participants: n=9146, 21.4%) from the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study examined from 1974 to 2005. The nonexercise estimated CRF was …

Host Gut Resistome In Gulf War Chronic Multisymptom Illness Correlates With Persistent Inflammation, Dipro Bose, Somdatta Chatterjee, Ethan Older, Ratanesh Seth, Patricia Janulewicz, Punnag Saha, Ayan Mondal, Jeffrey M. Carlson, Alan W. Decho, Kimberly Sullivan, Nancy Kilmas, Stephen Lasley, Jie Li, Saurabh Chatterjee

Faculty Publications

Chronic multisymptom illness (CMI) affects a subsection of elderly and war Veterans and is associated with systemic inflammation. Here, using a mouse model of CMI and a group of Gulf War (GW) Veterans’ with CMI we show the presence of an altered host resistome. Results show that antibiotic resistance genes (ARGs) are significantly altered in the CMI group in both mice and GW Veterans when compared to control. Fecal samples from GW Veterans with persistent CMI show a significant increase of resistance to a wide class of antibiotics and exhibited an array of mobile genetic elements (MGEs) distinct from normal …

Highly Swellable Hydrogels Prepared From Extensively Oxidized Lignin, Jihyeon Hwang, Daniella V. Martinez, Estevan J. Martinez, Gift Metavarayuth, Dustin Goodlett, Qi Wang, Mitra Ganewatta, Michael S. Kent, Chuanbing Tang

Faculty Publications

Biopolymers such as lignin are gaining renewed appeal due to the need for sustainable materials. Herein, we used chelator-mediated Fenton (CMF) chemistry to oxidize Kraft lignin to develop sustainable super absorbent materials. The CMF chemistry adds oxygen, opens aromatic rings and increases COOH content, producing hydrophilic lignin without depolymerization. UV absorption, molecular weight, elemental analysis, and titration were used to study the chemical compositions of CMF-processed lignin. Then the chemically modified hydrophilic lignin was used to produce lignin-based hydrogels utilizing an aqueous polymerization and cross-linking reaction that enabled tunable properties. The resulting lignin hydrogels absorbed water up to 96% and …

Understanding Rapid Intercalation Materials One Parameter At A Time, Wessel Van Den Bergh, Morgan Stefik

Faculty Publications

Demand for fast, energy-dense storage drives the research into nanoscale intercalation materials. Nanomaterials accelerate kinetics and can modify reaction path thermodynamics, intercalant solubility, and reversibility. The discovery of intercalation pseudocapacitance has opened questions about their fundamental operating principles. For example, are their capacitor-like current responses caused by storing energy in special near-surface regions or rather is this response due to normal intercalation limited by a slower faradaic surface-reaction? This review highlights emerging methods combining tailored nanomaterials with the process of elimination to disambiguate cause-and-effect at the nanoscale. This method is applied to multiple intercalation pseudocapacitive materials showing that the timescales …

Can Coastal Habitats Rise To The Challenge? Resilience Of Estuarine Habitats, Carbon Accumulation, And Economic Value To Sea-Level Rise In A Puget Sound Estuary, Monica M. Moritsch, Kristin B. Bryd, Melanie Davis, Anthony Good, Judith Z. Drexler, James T. Morris, Isa Wood, Lisamarie Windham-Myers, Eric Grossman, Gynnis Nakai, Katrina L. Poppe, John M. Rybczyk

Faculty Publications

Sea-level rise (SLR) and obstructions to sediment delivery pose challenges to the persistence of estuarine habitats and the ecosystem services they provide. Restoration actions and sediment management strategies may help mitigate such challenges by encouraging the vertical accretion of sediment in and horizontal migration of tidal forests and marshes. We used a process-based soil accretion model (Coastal Wetland Equilibrium Model) combined with a habitat classifcation model (MOSAICS) to estimate the efects of SLR, suspended sediment, and inland habitat migration on estuarine habitats, soil carbon accumulation, and economic value of climate change mitigation of carbon accumulation (social cost of carbon dioxide) …

Financial Health Literacy And The Shared Decision-Making Process In Healthcare, Caitlin S. O'Mara, Justin P. Young, Zachary K. Winkelmann Phd, Lat, Atc

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Mitogenome Relationships And Phylogeography Of Barn Swallows (Hirundo Rustica), Gianluca Lombardo, Nicola Rambaldi Migliore, Giulia Colombo, Marco Rosario Capodiferro, Giulio Formenti, Manuela Caprioli, Elisabetta Moroni, Leonardo Caporali, Hovirag Lancioni, Simona Secomandi, Cristina Cereda, Valerio Carelli, Lauren Gillespie, Yang Liu, Yosef Kiat, Alfonso Marzal, Cosme López-Calderón, Javier Balbontín, Timothy Mousseau, Piotr Matyjasiak, Anders Pape Møller, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

The barn swallow (Hirundo rustica) poses a number of fascinating scientific questions, including the taxonomic status of postulated subspecies. Here, we obtained and assessed the sequence variation of 411 complete mitogenomes, mainly from the European H. r. rustica, but other subspecies as well. In almost every case, we observed subspecies-specific haplogroups, which we employed together with estimated radiation times to postulate a model for the geographical and temporal worldwide spread of the species. The female barn swallow carrying the Hirundo rustica ancestral mitogenome left Africa (or its vicinity) around 280 thousand years ago (kya), and her descendants …

Dyt-Prkra Mutation P222l Enhances Pact's Stimulatory Activity On Type I Interferon Induction, Lauren S. Vaughn, Kenneth Frederick, Samuel B. Burnett, Nutan Sharma, D. Cristopher Bragg, Sarah Camargos, Francisco Cardoso, Rekha C. Patel

Faculty Publications

DYT-PRKRA (dystonia 16 or DYT-PRKRA) is caused by mutations in the PRKRA gene that encodes PACT, the protein activator of interferon (IFN)-induced double-stranded (ds) RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR). PACT participates in several cellular pathways, of which its role as a PKR activator protein during integrated stress response (ISR) is the best characterized. Previously, we have established that the DYT-PRKRA mutations cause enhanced activation of PKR during ISR to sensitize DYT-PRKRA cells to apoptosis. In this study, we evaluate if the most prevalent substitution mutation reported in DYT-PRKRA patients alters PACT’s functional role in induction of type …

Unusual High-Frequency Mechanical Properties Of Polymer-Grafted Nanoparticle Melts, Mayank Jhalaria, Yu Chang, Yucheng Huang, Brian C. Benicewicz, Sanat K. Kumar, George Fytas

Faculty Publications

Brillouin light spectroscopy is used to measure the elastic moduli of spherical polymer-grafted nanoparticle (GNP) melts as a function of chain length at fixed grafting density (0.47  chains/nm²) and nanoparticle radius (8 nm). While the moduli follow a rule of mixtures (Wood’s law) for long chains, they display enhanced elasticity and anomalous dissipation for graft chains <1⁢0⁢0  kDa. GNP melts with long polymers at high 𝜎 have a dry zone near the GNP core, surrounded by a region where the grafts can interpenetrate with chain fragments from adjacent GNPs. We propose that the departures from Wood’s law for short chains are due to the effectively larger silica volume fraction in the region where sound propagates—this is caused by the short, interpenetrated chain fragments being pushed out of the way. We thus conclude that transport mechanisms (of gas, ions, sound, thermal phonons) in GNP melts are radically different if interpenetrated chain segments can be “pushed out of the way” or not. This provides a facile new means for manipulating the properties of these materials.

The Heritage Family Study: A Review Of The Effects Of Exercise Training On Cardiometabolic Health, With Insights Into Molecular Transducers, Mark A. Sarzynski Ph.D., Faha, Facsm, Treva K. Rice, Jean-Pierre Després, Louis Pérusse, Angelo Tremblay, Philip R. Stanforth, André Tchernof, Jacob L. Barber, Francesco Falciani, Clary Clish, James S. Skinner, D. C. Rao, Claude Bouchard

Faculty Publications

The aim of the HERITAGE Family Study was to investigate individual differences in response to a standardized endurance exercise program, the role of familial aggregation, and the genetics of response levels of cardiorespiratory fitness and cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk factors. Here we summarize the findings and their potential implications for cardiometabolic health and cardiorespiratory fitness. It begins with overviews of background and planning, recruitment, testing and exercise program protocol, quality control measures, and other relevant organizational issues. A summary of findings is then provided on cardiorespiratory fitness, exercise hemodynamics, insulin and glucose metabolism, lipid and lipoprotein profiles, adiposity and …

To Stick Or Not To Stick: The Multiple Roles Of Cell Adhesion Molecules In Neural Circuit Assembly, Trevor Moreland, Fabienne E. Poulain

Faculty Publications

Precise wiring of neural circuits is essential for brain connectivity and function. During development, axons respond to diverse cues present in the extracellular matrix or at the surface of other cells to navigate to specific targets, where they establish precise connections with post-synaptic partners. Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) represent a large group of structurally diverse proteins well known to mediate adhesion for neural circuit assembly. Through their adhesive properties, CAMs act as major regulators of axon navigation, fasciculation, and synapse formation. While the adhesive functions of CAMs have been known for decades, more recent studies have unraveled essential, non-adhesive functions …

Pickle Associates With Histone Deacetylase 9 To Mediate Vegetative Phase Change In Arabidopsis, Tieqiang Hu, Darren Manuela, Valerie Hinsch, Mingli Xu

Faculty Publications

• The juvenile-to-adult vegetative phase change in flowering plants is mediated by a decrease in miR156 levels. Downregulation of MIR156A/MIR156C, the two major sources of miR156, is accompanied by a decrease in acetylation of histone 3 lysine 27 (H3K27ac) and an increase in trimethylation of H3K27 (H3K27me3) at MIR156A/MIR156C in Arabidopsis.

• Here, we show that histone deacetylase 9 (HDA9) is recruited to MIR156A/MIR156C during the juvenile phase and associates with the CHD3 chromatin remodeler PICKLE (PKL) to erase H3K27ac at MIR156A/MIR156C.

• H2Aub and H3K27me3 become enriched at MIR156A/MIR156C, and the recruitment of Polycomb Repressive Complex …

The Interplay Between Hydrogen Sulfide And Phytohormone Signaling Pathways Under Challenging Environments, Muhammad Saad Shoaib Khan, Faisal Islam, Yajin Ye, Matthew Ashline, Daowen Wang, Biying Zhao, Zheng Qing Fu, Jian Chen

Faculty Publications

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) serves as an important gaseous signaling molecule that is involved in intra- and intercellular signal transduction in plant–environment interactions. In plants, H₂S is formed in sulfate/cysteine reduction pathways. The activation of endogenous H₂S and its exogenous application has been found to be highly effective in ameliorating a wide variety of stress conditions in plants. The H₂S interferes with the cellular redox regulatory network and prevents the degradation of proteins from oxidative stress via post-translational modifications (PTMs). H₂S-mediated persulfidation allows the rapid response of proteins in signaling networks …

Lis1 And Ndel1 Regulate Axonal Trafficking Of Mitochondria In Mature Neurons, Jai P. Pandey, Liang Shi, Remi A. Brebion, Deanna S. Smith

Faculty Publications

Defective mitochondrial dynamics in axons have been linked to both developmental and late-onset neurological disorders. Axonal trafficking is in large part governed by the microtubule motors kinesin-1 and cytoplasmic dynein 1 (dynein). Dynein is the primary retrograde transport motor in axons, and mutations in dynein and many of its regulators also cause neurological diseases. Depletion of LIS1, famous for linking dynein deregulation to lissencephaly (smooth brain), in adult mice leads to severe neurological phenotypes, demonstrating post-developmental roles. LIS1 stimulates retrograde transport of acidic organelles in cultured adult rat dorsal root ganglion (DRG) axons but findings on its role in mitochondrial …

Faster Intercalation Pseudocapacitance Enabled By Adjustable Amorphous Titania Where Tunable Isomorphic Architectures Reveal Accelerated Lithium Diffusivity, Wessel Van Den Bergh, Taylor Larison, Maximilliano Jesus Jara Fornerod, Prof. Stefan Guldin, Morgan Stefik

Faculty Publications

Intercalation pseudocapacitance is a faradaic electrochemical phenomenon with high power and energy densities, combining the attractive features of capacitors and batteries, respectively. Intercalation pseudocapacitive responses exhibit surface-limited kinetics by definition, without restriction from the collective of diffusion-based processes. The surface-limited threshold (SLT) corresponds to the maximum voltage sweep rate (vSLT) exhibiting a predominantly surface-limited current response prior to the onset of diffusion-limitations. Prior studies showed increased lithium diffusivity for amorphous titania compared to anatase. Going beyond prior binary comparisons, here a continuum of amorphous titania configurations were prepared using a series of calcination temperatures to tailor both amorphous …

In Situ Recording Of Mars Soundscape, S. Maurice, B. Chide, N. Murdoch, R. D. Lorenz, D. Mimoun, R. C. Wiens, A. Stott, X. Jacob, T. Bertrand, F. Montmessin, N. L. Lanza, C. Alvarez-Llamas, Stanley M. Angel, M. Aung, J. Balaram, O. Beyssac, A. Cousin, G. Delory, O. Forni, T. Fouchet, Et. Al.

Faculty Publications

Before the Perseverance rover landing, the acoustic environment of Mars was unknown. Models predicted that: (1) atmospheric turbulence changes at centimetre scales or smaller at the point where molecular viscosity converts kinetic energy into heat1, (2) the speed of sound varies at the surface with frequency^2,3 and (3) high-frequency waves are strongly attenuated with distance in CO₂ (refs.^2,3,4). However, theoretical models were uncertain because of a lack of experimental data at low pressure and the difficulty to characterize turbulence or attenuation in a closed environment. Here, using Perseverance …

Functional Facets Of Intergenic Hairpin Structures In Genus Caulobacter, Geetha Saarunya Clarke

Theses and Dissertations

DNA replication, recombination and repairs maintain bacterial genome stability. But these processes may also induce genome rearrangements leading to inter andintra chromosomal structural variations. Genus Caulobacter undergoes extensive genome rearrangements. Genomic studies in bacteria usually focus on the codingregions, but there is important information present in the intergenic DNA spaces inaddition to the regulatory elements involved in transcription. Recently, Ely published a new model for recombination in genus Caulobacter with simultaneousloss and gain of genes resulting from preferential recombination at non- homologous regions flanked by regions of homology. In my dissertation, I observedand catalogued hairpin structures at known sites of …

Historical And Future Role Of Wilmar Palm Oil In Deforestation Of Indonesian Borneo, Sam Coroniti Iii

Senior Theses

Borneo is one of the most biologically diverse locations on Earth, with thousands of endemic and rare species forming unique and intricate relationships throughout the ecosystems. Orangutans, elephants, leopards, tigers, rhinos, and many more species call this island their home, although population levels for all of the mentioned species have been in seriously decline over recent decades. The loss of primary rainforest that provides the most critical habitat for these species has occurred at the highest rate that has ever been seen on Earth, leading to extreme land conversion and greenhouse gas producing operations. The primary driver of these actions …

Superfund And Society Benumbed: An In-Depth Look At Environmental Justice In South Carolina, Sydney A. Hampton

Senior Theses

This thesis investigates the relationship between superfund sites in minority communities and their public health through the lens of social vulnerability. Various demographic parameters were used to assess the risk associated with minority communities and exposure to hazardous waste. After investigating the history of the Environmental Justice movement, three superfund sites of interest in South Carolina, and demographic and public health data; each community was analyzed to determine association between exposure to hazardous waste and minority status. Each examined community exhibited characteristics contributing to heightened social vulnerability, potentially causing increased susceptibility to negative health outcomes from exposure to hazardous waste.

Defining Molecular And Morphological Phenotypes In Ash1l-Deficient Human Neurons, Foster D. Ritchie

Theses and Dissertations

Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD) are highly heritable neurodevelopmental disorders characterized by social and verbal impairments as well as repetitive behaviors. Large human genetic studies showed that genes encoding chromatin and transcriptional regulatory proteins are among the most commonly mutated genes in ASD. Absent, Small, or Homeotic 1-like (ASH1L) is a histone methyltransferase that has previously been identified as a major genetic risk factor for ASD. ASH1L di-methylates Histone H3 on Lysine 36 (H3K36me2) and tri-methylates Histone H3 on Lysine 4 (H3K4me3), which mainly coincides with transcriptional activation. ASH1L is a Trithorax protein that is proposed to counteract the activity of …

Cryptic Cryptophytes: The Plasticity In How Cryptophytes Respond To Changes In Resource Availability, Rachel Ann-Marie Schomaker

Theses and Dissertations

Resource variability and availability often drives competition within ecosystems, which can lead to the diversification of organismal niches and physiological capabilities. In aquatic systems, common resources that photosynthetic organisms, such as algae, compete for are light and carbon. Both the spectral characteristics (color) and carbon concentrations of an aquatic system vary with time and space, which means that algae need to be able to respond to changes in resource availability to survive. Using a group of ubiquitous unicellular eukaryotes known as cryptophytes, we investigated both how cryptophytes respond to changes in the available light spectrum at a physiological and genetic …