The evolution of insect swarms from XNUMX million years ago

Chapter 169 Photosynthesis

Because animals and plants have been separated since the single-cell era and are far apart, it is very difficult to integrate the genetic sequences of animals and plants.

But it’s not that there are no tricks to “save the country” - for example, some sea slugs in later generations, mainly the order Cystoglossus, can obtain chloroplasts from edible algae through a behavior called plastid stealing. and stored in one's own body.

This behavior is not uncommon among microorganisms, but it is unique among macroscopic organisms. These sea slugs have become animals with the ability to photosynthesize, and they are special cases among special cases in the entire animal kingdom.

Under normal circumstances, the survival of chloroplasts requires interaction with special genetic codes in the plant cell nucleus, but these sea slugs can allow chloroplasts to survive in their own bodies for unknown reasons.

Maintaining cells and metabolizing photosynthetic products, this group is also known as solar sea slugs.

But in fact, the photosynthetic ability of most taxa in the Superorder Cystoglossus is very poor - these chloroplasts can only survive in the body for as short as a few hours or as long as a few months.

The main reason is that the chloroplasts in sea slugs are still rootless trees after all. They have no mechanism to resist strong sunlight and will be quickly sunk to death during the photosynthesis process.

In most cases, photosynthesis is a backup method for these sea slugs to survive famine, rather than a primary source of nutrients.

Most of the time, these sea slugs survive by eating algae directly. However, there are not exceptions among them, and that is the green-leafed sea beetle, which is known as a completely photosynthetic animal.

Seabirds, also known as Discobranchidae, are a family under the superorder Cyglossus and are also the group with the strongest overall photosynthetic power.

Oncobranchids have a special flap structure that, combined with the plant chloroplasts stored in their bodies, gives them the appearance of a living leaf.

These extended flap structures can regulate the degree of sunlight exposure of chloroplasts and prevent free chloroplasts without the support of algal cells from being destroyed.

Moreover, among them, there is a species called the green-leaf sea beetle, or the green-leaf sea snail, which has achieved complete photosynthesis and can survive almost its whole life without eating any food.

This species has a protein structure that can independently produce chloroplasts in its body. Although it still cannot make something out of nothing, once it obtains the necessary chloroplasts from food, it can continue to produce it independently to provide for its own survival.

But at this time, all this is in vain - because the Cystoglossus and even the entire sea slugs are actually a very young group. According to later research, it can only be traced back to the early Cretaceous.

Therefore, Lin Yi could only explore on his own, but recently, he actually figured out a special protein that obtains chloroplasts from algae and uses part of the existing chloroplasts to continuously produce chlorophyll.

This means that the nest group can finally carry out photosynthesis independently and no longer needs to rely on planting or breeding, achieving complete self-sufficiency.

The relevant gene sequences were synchronized to all broods by Lin Yi at the first time - since it was just a combination and arrangement of the existing gene sequences, no new gene fragments were added, and it only needed to be combined and arranged in the same way in other broods. That’s it.

As for the appearance of the new level, Lin Yi decided to use a level that has almost been eliminated by the nest group - the floating mother nest - as the main body.

After the function of absorbing gene sequences was integrated into the pioneering brood, the floating nest class was basically eliminated by Lin Yi. Although the existing ones were not recycled but continued to be retained, after the mass extinction, they were no longer available. No new ones have been produced. The relatively simple macro structure makes the lifespan of the mother nest and the floating mother nest theoretically infinite. In this era, there is nothing in the sea that can threaten the heavily guarded mother nest, so there are still many floating mother nests drifting around the ocean. .

At this time, these floating mother nests will become brand-new carriers of photosynthetic structures, once again shining and heating the nests.

The main structure of the photosynthetic tissue, based on Lin Yi's philosophy of never thinking about the specific structure if it can evolve convergently, took the appearance of the snails of later generations as a reference, and it consists of the main body and the developed skinfold structure.

The overall shape of the skinfold structure is similar to that of a sea slug, but wider and rounder, somewhat like a lotus leaf. At the same time, the skin folds are wrapped by a layer of transparent exoskeleton, which provides limited protection.

These skin folds also have the ability to adjust the degree of sunlight exposure of chloroplasts, allowing the chloroplasts to receive as much exposure as possible without being directly sunburned to death.

In this way, the photosynthetic capacity of the new structure can reach the average level of normal plants, which is enough to meet Lin Yi's requirements.

In the main body part, a large number of structures for decomposing photosynthetic products are installed, and in the center, a longer hose structure is connected, similar to the hose that connects the sea ringworm clusters to the ordinary mother nest.

These hose structures will also play a role in transporting nutrients, connecting the new photosynthetic structures around the floating mother nest, and continuously transporting nutrients to the mother nest body.

The new structure will float on the sea surface, obtaining nutrients without affecting the filtration of plankton by the underwater whisker-like structure of the floating mother nest, and obtaining a large amount of nutrients.

At the same time, such a structure will also be installed on ordinary mother nests in the sea to continue to produce nutrients.

On ordinary mother nests, they will grow in a way similar to the clusters of sea ringworms, extending from the sides of the mother nest and growing upward, spreading flat at the ends to obtain as much nutrients as possible.

Similarly, they still do not conflict with the Sea Ringo clusters and can be installed at the same time to collect a large amount of nutrients to supply the development of the mother nest and the nest colony.

The terrestrial mother nest does not plan to install this structure for the time being - it is not that Lin Yi does not want to install it, but the shape of this structure on land is somewhat inappropriate, and it needs to be modified before it can be combined with the terrestrial mother nest. .

So now, on land, Lin Yi has to rely on growing lichens to obtain nutrients.

It is envisioned that the photosynthetic structures on land will be similar to lichens, growing close to the ground and connected to the mother nest on land, spreading on the ground like a carpet to obtain nutrients.

But now, Lin Yi's own basic base is indeed still in the sea. On land, not to mention the pioneering and transporting moths that continue to transport nutrients, the lichens can also provide enough nutrients to supply him and the terrestrial arthropod nests. Group battle.

The most important thing now is to apply all these structures on a large scale as soon as possible to accumulate more nutrients for the nest group. Whatever the purpose, it is an integral part of the development process.

(End of this chapter)