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These organisms perform photosynthesis through organelles called chloroplasts and are believed to have originated about 2 billion years ago. [1] Comparing the genes of chloroplast and cyanobacteria strongly suggests that chloroplasts evolved as a result of endosymbiosis with cyanobacteria that gradually lost the genes required to be free-living.
Photosynthesis (/ ˌ f oʊ t ə ˈ s ɪ n θ ə s ɪ s / FOH-tə-SINTH-ə-sis) [1] is a system of biological processes by which photosynthetic organisms, such as most plants, algae, and cyanobacteria, convert light energy, typically from sunlight, into the chemical energy necessary to fuel their metabolism.
Photosynthesis is the main means by which plants, algae and many bacteria produce organic compounds and oxygen from carbon dioxide and water (green arrow). An autotroph is an organism that can convert abiotic sources of energy into energy stored in organic compounds, which can be used by other organisms.
These are flattened sacs called thylakoids where photosynthesis is performed. [ 14 ] [ 15 ] Photoautotrophic eukaryotes such as red algae , green algae and plants perform photosynthesis in chlorophyllic organelles that are thought to have their ancestry in cyanobacteria, acquired long ago via endosymbiosis.
Chloroplasts, containing thylakoids, visible in the cells of Ptychostomum capillare, a type of moss. A chloroplast (/ ˈ k l ɔːr ə ˌ p l æ s t,-p l ɑː s t /) [1] [2] is a type of organelle known as a plastid that conducts photosynthesis mostly in plant and algal cells.
Cyanobacteria, which are prokaryotic organisms which carry out oxygenic photosynthesis, occupy many environmental conditions, including fresh water, seas, soil, and lichen. Cyanobacteria carry out plant-like photosynthesis because the organelle in plants that carries out photosynthesis is derived from an [4] endosymbiotic cyanobacterium. [5]
Phytoplankton (/ ˌ f aɪ t oʊ ˈ p l æ ŋ k t ə n /) are the autotrophic (self-feeding) components of the plankton community and a key part of ocean and freshwater ecosystems.The name comes from the Greek words φυτόν (phyton), meaning 'plant', and πλαγκτός (planktos), meaning 'wanderer' or 'drifter'.
The organisms responsible for primary production are called primary producers or autotrophs. Most marine primary production is generated by a diverse collection of marine microorganisms called algae and cyanobacteria. Together these form the principal primary producers at the base of the ocean food chain and produce half of the world's oxygen ...