What is it about?
Photosynthesis is the foundation for nearly all of our planet’s ecosystems. Life harnessing light energy through this metabolism was undoubtedly a landmark event in the development of modern life and Earth. However, much of the history of photosynthesis had remained enigmatic. A new study in PNAS digs through the massive genetic record to unravel the intertwined histories of life and photosynthesis beginning from more than three billion years ago.
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Why is it important?
Much of life as we know today breathes oxygen, but where, when, who did oxygen come from? The study discovers that photosynthesis originated without the ability to generate oxygen and this ability was acquired by bacteria known as “Terrabacteria” roughly two-and-a-half billion years ago, right around the time geologists begin to find reliable signs of oxygen on Earth. This sheds light on key chapters in the development of life and Earth. The study also finds that the ancestor of all bacteria was likely capable of photosynthesis and uncovers the evolutionary path from this ancestor towards all photosynthetic life living today. This shows how critical the sun likely was to the success of bacteria.
Perspectives
I hope that this article provides the reader a new exciting view on how we (as life) and Earth co-evolved. With results suggesting that all bacteria were likely once capable of photosynthesis, we can appreciate just how significant a role the sun and light played in life taking off on our planet.
Masaru K Nobu
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology
I am excited that we were able to identify descendants that vertically inherited photosynthetic capacity from the ancestor, and also differentiate them from others that indirectly acquired photosynthesis by horizontal transfer. Direct descendants include cyanobacteria, while non-direct descendants include purple bacteria and green sulfur bacteria, which are widely distributed across present earth's surface.
Yusuke Tsukatani
Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC)
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Illuminating the coevolution of photosynthesis and Bacteria, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, June 2024, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2322120121.
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