New Oxygen research; photosynthesis early appearance? (Introduction)

by David Turell , Saturday, May 17, 2025, 18:57 (3 days ago) @ David Turell

More study on early photosynthesis:

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/05/250516134402.htm

"An international team of scientists have unlocked a key piece of Earth's evolutionary puzzle by decoding the structure of a light-harvesting "nanodevice" in one of the planet's most ancient lineages of cyanobacteria. The discovery, published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, provides an unprecedented glimpse into how early life harnessed sunlight to produce oxygen -- a process that transformed our planet forever.

"The team, including Dr Tanai Cardona from Queen Mary University of London, focused on Photosystem I (PSI), a molecular complex that converts light into electrical energy, purified from Anthocerotibacter panamensis -- a recently discovered species representing a lineage that diverged from all other cyanobacteria roughly 3 billion years ago.

"Remarkably, this living relic shares almost no close relatives, with its nearest known evolutionary "sister" species parting ways some 1.4 billion years ago.

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"Most cyanobacteria, plus all algae and plants, pack their photosynthetic machinery into stacked membrane sheets called thylakoids: imagine several layers of solar panels.

"A. panamensis lacks thylakoids, confining its entire photosynthetic toolkit to a single membrane layer.

"That restriction limits photosynthesis, so these thylakoid-less cyanobacteria grow slowly and tolerate only dim light in the lab.

"'With this PSI structure in hand," added co-author Dr Christopher Gisriel from University of Wisconsin-Madison, "We can compare it to others and see which features are ancient and which are recent evolutionary innovations."

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"Dr Tanai Cardona concluded, "Even three billion years ago, photosynthesis appears to have reached a remarkable degree of sophistication. To find the true origin of oxygen-producing photosynthesis, we'll have to look even further back -- before cyanobacteria themselves evolved.'"

Comment: Why should oxygen be generated at all? The study is best understood in the teleology of a designed process planning for future use by newly evolved organisms.