Tero Keski-ValkamaDec 31, 2022

Belt and suspenders: #Alpine #lake #bacteria deploy two light-harvesting systems

"Generally speaking, species tend to pick one or the other #metabolic system, the PC/Mac dichotomy of #phototrophic #organisms. However, a multi-institutional team of #MolecularBiologists now reports finding an alpine lake bacterium that uses both #bacteriochlorophyll-based #photosynthetic complexes and proton-pumping #rhodopsins."

https://phys.org/news/2022-12-belt-alpine-lake-bacteria-deploy.html

Belt and suspenders: Alpine lake bacteria deploy two light-harvesting systems

Though humans, along with other vertebrate and invertebrate organisms, don't photosynthesize, we're definitely the downstream beneficiaries of the life forms that do. Phototrophic organisms at the bottom of the food chain convert abundant sunlight into the energy that ultimately powers all other life.

Phys.org
Lukas VFN πŸ‡ͺπŸ‡ΊDec 29, 2022

Alpine lake #bacteria deploy two light-harvesting systems https://phys.org/news/2022-12-belt-alpine-lake-bacteria-deploy.html

A bacterium from a mountain lake harvests light using both proton-pumping xanthorhodopsins and bacteriochlorophyll-based photosystems https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2211018119

#Bacteriochlorophyll-based systems are large, complex... But once assembled, they are a "set-it-and-forget-it" system working even in low light. #Rhodopsins are far simpler, less expensive to express; but they only function in higher irradiance levels.

Belt and suspenders: Alpine lake bacteria deploy two light-harvesting systems

Though humans, along with other vertebrate and invertebrate organisms, don't photosynthesize, we're definitely the downstream beneficiaries of the life forms that do. Phototrophic organisms at the bottom of the food chain convert abundant sunlight into the energy that ultimately powers all other life.

Phys.org