Chris Bowler, Professor of Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, paid a visit to Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB) on June 30.

Chris Bowler, Professor of Ecole Normale Supérieure, Paris, paid a visit to Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB) on June 30. During his visit, he made a presentation entitled “Genome-Enabled Explorations of Evolutionary Ecophysiology in Marine Diatoms”.

Prof. Bowler introduced that marine diatoms, one of the most successful group of eukaryotic algae in the contemporary ocean (accounting for 40% of marine primary production), contribute as much organic carbon as all the terrestrial rainforests combined. Marine diatoms play an important role in the biogeochemical cycling of carbon, nitrogen and silicon in the aquatic ecosystems. Based on the currently obtained data on diatoms genomics, Prof. Bowler analyzes the evolutionary origins and metabolic adaptations that may have led to their ecological success. He proposed that they have incorporated genes both from their endosymbiotic ancestors and horizontal gene transfer from marine bacteria. The most distinctive one is that there exists urea cycle in marine diatoms cells found only in mammals. This cycle enables the diatoms to efficiently use carbon and nitrogen from their environment, so diatoms are able to quickly recover from prolonged periods of nutrient deprivation and rapidly proliferate. In addition, he elucidated the environmental adaptability of marine diatoms from the photosynthesis and epigenetic aspect of marine diatoms.

Prof. Bowler is a well-known expert in the fields of plant and marine diatoms. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed scientific articles in international journals such as Nature, Science, PNAS and Plant Cell etc. In 2009, he was awarded the CNRS silver medal. He is Associate Editor of Plant Cell, J Phycology, and Marine Biotechnology.