Oftentimes, important scientific discoveries go overlooked by the public. Many important discoveries are simply not relevant to the general public and the attention they get is from academics and researchers. One of these overlooked findings is the discovery of the photosynthetic nature of a little bug known as the ‘pea aphid’. These tiny bugs were discovered to be able to convert sunlight into energy and water and carbon dioxide into oxygen. This is the only animal to be able to do so.
This special property comes carotenoids, which are a type of red-orange pigment that comes from the plants, algae and fungi that animals eat. Carotenoids are essential for functions like vision, bone health and vitamins. However, these little bugs have their own carotenoids.
This was broken down more by body color. The color of aphids changed based on carotenoid production. Aphids in cold environments and green aphids produced high levels of carotenoids. Normal environments and orange aphids produced intermediate levels of carotenoids, and white aphids and aphids in environments with limited resources produced few carotenoids. Researchers believe pea aphids got this ability after swapping genes with fungi.
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