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.
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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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