AI tool reveals hidden proteins in Earth’s vital microalgae

Scientists at NYU Abu Dhabi have developed a powerful new artificial intelligence tool called LA⁴SR that can rapidly identify previously overlooked proteins in microalgae - tiny organisms that produce much of the Earth's oxygen and support entire aquatic ecosystems.

This breakthrough will allow scientists to speed up the search for new natural compounds and enzymes that could support future clean energy solutions. It will also help researchers better understand how microscopic life adapts to changing environments and open new possibilities for monitoring water quality and tracking how ecosystems respond to climate shifts.

Microalgae are essential to life on the planet, yet many of their proteins are difficult to detect because they are mixed with proteins from other microorganisms. Traditional computer programs often miss large portions of these algal proteins or take weeks to analyze them.

To solve this challenge, the NYUAD team trained an AI system to read protein sequences the way a language model reads text. As a result, LA⁴SR can separate real algal proteins from background noise with near-perfect accuracy and it performs this analysis 10,000 times faster than existing methods.

"Microalgae are among the most important organisms on Earth, but much of their biology is still hidden from us," said Associate Professor of Biology at NYU Abu Dhabi Kourosh Salehi-Ashtiani. "With LA⁴SR we can finally see these proteins clearly, we are making the invisible visible. By training AI to capture genomic information that standard tools miss, we're accelerating marine biology for health and environmental innovation," adds NYU Abu Dhabi Senior Research Scientist and the lead author of the study David Nesson.

LA⁴SR marks a significant step forward in revealing how the smallest organisms on Earth help sustain life on the planet.