Time-resolved comparative molecular evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis.

ABSTRACT: Oxygenic photosynthesis starts with the oxidation of water to O₂, a light-driven reaction catalysed by photosystem II. Cyanobacteria are the only prokaryotes capable of water oxidation and therefore, it is assumed that the origin of oxygenic photosynthesis is a late innovation relative to the origin of life and bioenergetics. However, when exactly water oxidation originated remains an unanswered question. Here we use phylogenetic analysis to study a gene duplication event that is unique to photosystem II: the duplication that led to the evolution of the core antenna subunits CP43 and CP47. We compare the changes in the rates of evolution of this duplication with those of some of the oldest well-described events in the history of life: namely, the duplication leading to the Alpha

SUBMITTER: Oliver T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8047818 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature