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Oxygenic photosynthesis uses water as an electron donor, which is oxidized to molecular oxygen (O 2) in the photosynthetic reaction center. The biochemical capacity for oxygenic photosynthesis evolved in a common ancestor of extant cyanobacteria. [11] The first appearance of free oxygen in the atmosphere is sometimes referred to as the oxygen ...
The term photosynthesis is derived from the Greek phōs (φῶς, gleam) and sýnthesis (σύνθεσις, arranging together), [97] [98] [99] while another word that he designated was photosyntax, from sýntaxis (σύνταξις, configuration). Over time, the term photosynthesis came into common usage. Later discovery of anoxygenic ...
The Purple Earth Hypothesis (PEH) is an astrobiological hypothesis, first proposed by molecular biologist Shiladitya DasSarma in 2007, [1] that the earliest photosynthetic life forms of Early Earth were based on the simpler molecule retinal rather than the more complex porphyrin-based chlorophyll, making the surface biosphere appear purplish ...
Cyanobacteria such as these carry out photosynthesis. Their emergence foreshadowed the evolution of many photosynthetic plants and oxygenated Earth's atmosphere. Biological carbon fixation, or сarbon assimilation, is the process by which living organisms convert inorganic carbon (particularly carbon dioxide, CO 2) to organic compounds.
Before photosynthesis evolved, Earth's atmosphere had no free diatomic elemental oxygen (O 2). [2] Small quantities of oxygen were released by geological [ 3 ] and biological processes, but did not build up in the reducing atmosphere due to reactions with then-abundant reducing gases such as atmospheric methane and hydrogen sulfide and surface ...
The study of Earth's atmosphere and its processes is called atmospheric science (aerology), and includes multiple subfields, such as climatology and atmospheric physics. Early pioneers in the field include Léon Teisserenc de Bort and Richard Assmann. [4] The study of historic atmosphere is called paleoclimatology.
Prior to these processes in earth's early years of formation, the air and oceans were anoxic. [7] An anoxic environment is one without the presence of oxygen, majorly consisting of anaerobic microbes. The evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis in the atmosphere amplified the productivity of the biosphere, increasing biodiversity. [7]
The reaction is part of the light-dependent reactions of photosynthesis in cyanobacteria and the chloroplasts of green algae and plants. It utilizes the energy of light to split a water molecule into its protons and electrons for photosynthesis. Free oxygen, generated as a by-product of this reaction, is released into the atmosphere. [2] [3]