New Clues Could Help Scientists Harness the Power of Photosynthesis 2 (IMAGE)
Caption
Figure 2. This illustration shows the newly discovered evolutionary scheme for the type-1 and type-2 reaction centers of photosynthesis. Reaction centers are protein machines that convert light energy into stable reductants that can be used by cells to conserve energy and reduce carbon dioxide to form sugars and other cell components. In this scheme, homodimeric ChlF is proposed to predate the evolution of a heterodimeric ancestor of Photosystem II, the reaction center enzyme that splits water and produces oxygen. The primary mechanism of evolution has been gene duplication events followed by periods of amino acid sequence changes to produce the two types of specialized reaction centers that are currently found in cyanobacteria, algae, and plants.
Credit
Donald A. Bryant lab, Penn State University
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