Evolutionary Competition Between Primitive Photosynthetic Systems: Existence of an early purple Earth?

Details Evolutionary Competition Between Primitive Photosynthetic Systems: Existence of an early purple Earth? Evolutionary Competition Between Primitive Photosynthetic Systems: Existence of an early purple Earth?

Dec 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006aas...209.0605s&link_type=abstract

2007 AAS/AAPT Joint Meeting, American Astronomical Society Meeting 209, #06.05; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, V

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Scientific paper

The onset of photosynthesis in primitive cyanobacteria is thought to have profoundly altered the Earth’s atmosphere by producing an oxygen-rich atmosphere some 2 billion years ago. However, the pigments used by chlorophyll-based photosynthesis absorb at a variety of wavelengths, curiously except those centered around the peak of the Solar spectrum, 550nm. By contrast, simpler retinal-based light harvesting systems such as the haloarchaeal purple membrane bacteriorhodopsin and halorhodopsin show a strong well-defined peak of absorbance centered at 550nm. The spectroscopic complementarity for retinal pigments with chlorophyll-based pigments suggests an intriguing possibility of their co-evolution. This hypothesis argues that simpler retinal-based phototrophic capability may have evolved earlier, in microorganisms that dominated during the anaerobic and purple phase of the planet. Later, the more complex chlorophyll-based photosystem pigments could have evolved to harvest light in regions of the spectrum not absorbed by preexisting species. This would have led to the greening and oxidation of our planet and displacement of most of the retinal-based microorganisms. Not surprisingly, evidence for retinal chromoproteins have recently turned up in a variety of planktonic microorganisms. Although speculative, such a scenario would indicate that retinal-based phototrophy may be one of the oldest metabolic capabilities on Earth. Moreover, if the chlorophyll absorption spectrum is simply a product of adaptation, then its utility as a potential biomarker is likely to be limited.

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