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early-archean-timing · cardona-2019-early-archean-psii

Revision d5c57c1f-74e8-4ff7-8703-ccf49454c03e · 10/6/2026, 3:16:00 PM UTC
Claim ID
early-archean-timing
Assertion
Using sequence and structural comparisons with Bayesian relaxed molecular clocks, the authors infer that a homodimeric photosystem with enough oxidizing power to split water had appeared in the early Archean, about a billion years before the most recent common ancestor of all described oxygenic Cyanobacteria. They hypothesize, on structural and functional grounds, that it could already oxidize water.
Quote
Our results indicate that a homodimeric photosystem with sufficient oxidizing power to split water had already appeared in the early Archean about a billion years before the most recent common ancestor of all described Cyanobacteria capable of oxygenic photosynthesis, and well before the diversification of some of the known groups of anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria. Based on a structural and functional rationale, we hypothesize that this early Archean photosystem was capable of water oxidation to oxygen
Quote language
en
Locator
section: Abstract
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