Predicting the diversity of photosynthetic light-harvesting using thermodynamics and machine learning.

ABSTRACT: Oxygenic photosynthesis is responsible for nearly all biomass production on Earth, and may have been a prerequisite for establishing a complex biosphere rich in multicellular life. Life on Earth has evolved to perform photosynthesis in a wide range of light environments, but with a common basic architecture of a light-harvesting antenna system coupled to a photochemical reaction centre. Using a generalized thermodynamic model of light-harvesting, coupled with an evolutionary algorithm, we predict the type of light-harvesting structures that might evolve in light of different intensities and spectral profiles. We reproduce qualitatively the pigment composition, linear absorption profile and structural topology of the antenna systems of multiple types of oxygenic photoautotrophs, suggesting

SUBMITTER: Gray C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11896073 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature