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posted by martyb on Monday June 18 2018, @01:18PM   Printer-friendly
from the warming-up-to-the-idea dept.

A newly discovered form of photosynthesis could have implications for exoplanet/exomoon habitability:

The vast majority of life on Earth uses visible red light in the process of photosynthesis, but the new type uses near-infrared light instead. It was detected in a wide range of cyanobacteria (blue-green algae) when they grow in near-infrared light, found in shaded conditions like bacterial mats in Yellowstone and in beach rock in Australia. As scientists have now discovered, it also occurs in a cupboard fitted with infrared LEDs in Imperial College London.

The standard, near-universal type of photosynthesis uses the green pigment, chlorophyll-a, both to collect light and use its energy to make useful biochemicals and oxygen. The way chlorophyll-a absorbs light means only the energy from red light can be used for photosynthesis.

Since chlorophyll-a is present in all plants, algae and cyanobacteria that we know of, it was considered that the energy of red light set the 'red limit' for photosynthesis; that is, the minimum amount of energy needed to do the demanding chemistry that produces oxygen. The red limit is used in astrobiology to judge whether complex life could have evolved on planets in other solar systems.

However, when some cyanobacteria are grown under near-infrared light, the standard chlorophyll-a-containing systems shut down and different systems containing a different kind of chlorophyll, chlorophyll-f, takes over.

Also at ScienceAlert.

Photochemistry beyond the red limit in chlorophyll f–containing photosystems (DOI: 10.1126/science.aar8313) (DX)


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  • (Score: 2, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Monday June 18 2018, @03:01PM (1 child)

    I'm a life-long nite owl. Late one night when I lived in Santa Cruz I drove a few miles up the north coast so I could hang out on a certain beach.

    I was at first completely convinced I was hallucinating:

    When I got to the wet sand near the water, I was dumbfounded to see the sand flash all around my feet whenever I put either of my feet down.

    If I stamped real hard on the wet sand, the flash was brighter and larger in area. It was not long at all that I was running back and forth along the waters edge as I wondered whether one of my Hippy friends had dosed me.

    When I waded into the water I discovered that the foam of crashing wave also got lit up. I at the time had not heard of blue-green algae but figured some form of life got lit up whenever there was abundant oxygen.

    I just happened to have a glass jar in my car so I scooped some of that sand into it then drove home. But by the time I woke up the following afternoon all those poor little monocellular beacons had died! I was so sad.

    I'm 54, I've lived near many beaches. Bonita was heavily into the oceans so she and I went to the beach quite often.

    Yet in all my days I never again saw what I did that amazing night at Bonny Doon beach!

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
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  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18 2018, @03:09PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday June 18 2018, @03:09PM (#694532)

    You would love to see this then https://things-to-do-in-jamaica.com/glistening-waters-in-jamaica/ [things-to-do-in-jamaica.com]