{
  "id": 4777515,
  "title": "Rapid isothermal amplification of diatom rbcL from eDNA and eRNA reveals their abundance and photosynthetic physiology",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/08/31/rapid-isothermal-amplification-of-diatom-rbcl-from-edna-and-erna",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-08-31T00:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "bioRxiv",
    "slug": "biorxiv",
    "url": "https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.30.748096v1?rss=1"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Diatoms play a crucial role in marine primary production, yet existing monitoring methods are limited in their precision and resolution. Molecular markers, specifically the rbcL gene, offer a promising alternative by enabling high-resolution analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) and RNA (eRNA) to determine diatom abundance and metabolic activity. This study introduces an isothermal quantitative recombinase polymerase amplification (qRPA) assay for the rbcL gene, which operates at low temperatures and yields results in under 15 minutes. The researchers validated the assay's specificity and accuracy across various diatom species. Applying the assay to samples collected from the Mare Chiara Long-Term Ecological Research site in the Bay of Naples, Italy, alongside traditional techniques, revealed the assay's potential for rapid and accurate diatom monitoring. The molecular data showed that diatom rbcL DNA copies fluctuated across several orders of magnitude, even as the community composition changed seasonally. When combined with optical data, the results indicated that low-light winter diatom populations exhibited higher cellular rbcL copies and chlorophyll, suggesting enhanced photosynthetic capacity despite lower abundance. Additionally, the study demonstrated that rbcL RNA levels corresponded to total carbon fixation rates, allowing for the identification of populations with distinct carbon fixation activities. The findings highlight the efficiency and reliability of this qRPA-based approach for biomolecular ocean observing, providing a valuable tool for understanding diatom dynamics and their ecological functions.",
  "summary": "Diatoms are major contributors to marine primary production, yet current approaches for monitoring their abundance and function rely on coarse satellite chlorophyll estimates or sparse cell count and carbon fixation measurements. Molecular markers are a promising approach for high-resolution measurement of both abundance and metabolic activity through analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) and RNA…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}