Cryptophyte

Définitions de « cryptophyte »

Cryptophyte - Nom commun

• (Botanique) Désigne les plantes vivaces qui possèdent des organes de survie souterrains leur permettant de résister aux saisons défavorables.

  Quant aux cryptophytes, ou « plantes cachées », ce sont des vivaces dont on ne voit pas les organes végétatifs : Iris à rhizomes, Narcisse à bulbes, etc.

Étymologie de « cryptophyte »

Évolution historique de l’usage du mot « cryptophyte » depuis 1800

Citations contenant le mot « cryptophyte »

• La primevère candélabre orange est une plante vivace cryptophyte. Elle produit une rosette de feuilles basales qui apparaissent au printemps et disparaissent en hiver ; la primevère de Bulley est alors bien protégée sous le sol durant l’hiver. Primula bulleyana est une grande primevère : la rosette de feuilles est dense, les feuilles, allongées et sans pétioles, peuvent atteindre 10 à 25 cm de longueur. Le limbe, légèrement dentelé, est vert bleuté. Les jeunes feuilles centrales sont puinées, recouvertes d’une poudre blanche.

• In an algae-eat-algae world, it's the single-celled photosynthetic organisms at the top (layer of the ocean) that absorb the most sunlight. Underneath, in the sublayers, are cryptophyte algae that must compete for photons that have filtered through the upper depths. The key to their survival, a study published on December 8 in Chem reveals, is the ability to more than triple how fast they capture light energy and funnel it through to molecules that convert it into food. The finding could generate new bio-inspired designs for light-harvesting systems.

• Up until now, how cryptophytes acquired the proteins used to capture and funnel sunlight to be used by the cell had molecular biologists scratching their heads. They already knew that the protein was part of a sort of antenna that the organism used to convert sunlight into energy. They also knew that the cryptophyte had inherited some antenna components from its photosynthetic ancestors – red algae, and before that cyanobacteria, one of the earliest lifeforms on earth that are responsible for stromatolites.

• When a creature has dimorphic sexual life cycles, it means it reproduces differently depending on its life cycle. The cryptophyte algae the researchers were studying is able to switch between a haploid (an organism with a single set of chromosomes) and a diploid (an organism with a matched pair of chromosomes). Prior to their discovery, this single species was thought to be two different species. The other had been named Plagioselmis prolonga.

Traductions du mot « cryptophyte »

Sources et ressources complémentaires

• Définitions du Wiktionnaire
• Définitions du TLFi