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Cyanobacteria is the only prokaryotic group that performs oxygenic photosynthesis. Anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria use PSI- and PSII-like photosystems, which are pigment protein complexes for capturing light. [5] Both of these photosystems use bacteriochlorophyll. There are multiple hypotheses for how oxygenic photosynthesis evolved.
Photoautotrophic, oxygen-producing cyanobacteria created the conditions in the planet's early atmosphere that directed the evolution of aerobic metabolism and eukaryotic photosynthesis. Cyanobacteria fulfill vital ecological functions in the world's oceans, being important contributors to global carbon and nitrogen budgets."
The evolution of photosynthesis refers to the origin and subsequent evolution of photosynthesis, the process by which light energy is used to assemble sugars from carbon dioxide and a hydrogen and electron source such as water. It is believed that the pigments used for photosynthesis initially were used for protection from the harmful effects ...
Darwinian threshold – Period during the evolution of the first cells; Last eukaryotic common ancestor – Process of forming the first eukaryotic cell; Pre-cell – Hypothetical life before complete cells; Proto-metabolism – Chemical reactions which turn into modern metabolism
Prokaryotes show a great diversity of nutritional categories. [16] For example, cyanobacteria and many purple sulfur bacteria can be photolithoautotrophic , using light for energy, H 2 O or sulfide as electron/hydrogen donors, and CO 2 as carbon source, whereas green non-sulfur bacteria can be photoorganoheterotrophic , using organic molecules ...
A widespread current model of the origin of life is that the first organisms were prokaryotes. These may have evolved out of protocells, while the eukaryotes evolved later in the history of life. [39] An alternative model is that extant prokaryotes evolved from more complex eukaryotic ancestors through a process of simplification. [40] [41] [42]
Prokaryotes do not have a complex internal membrane network like eukaryotes, but they could produce extracellular vesicles from their outer membrane. [41] After the early prokaryote was consumed by a proto-eukaryote, the prokaryote would have continued to produce vesicles that accumulated within the cell. [41]
The eukaryotic cell seems to have evolved from a symbiotic community of prokaryotic cells. DNA-bearing organelles like mitochondria and chloroplasts are remnants of ancient symbiotic oxygen-breathing bacteria and cyanobacteria, respectively, where at least part of the rest of the cell may have been derived from an ancestral archaean prokaryote ...