[Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München] LMU researchers demonstrate that oxygenic photosynthesis can occur with only a single photosystem, overturning a fundamental principle of biology.
oxygenic photosynthesis
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology
White Paper On Phototrophic Biosignatures: Research Priorities For The Search For Life On Other Worlds
[astro-ph.IM] Photosynthesis is of prime interest in the telescopic search for life beyond the Solar System, because, on Earth, oxygenic photosynthesis produces two strong “biosignatures,” global scale signs of life […]
Posted inUncategorized
An Agnostic Machine Learning Model of Photosynthetic Habitability
The search for exoplanet biosignatures is guided by whether planetary environments can sustain photosynthesis.
Posted inBiochemistry & Organic Chemistry, Biophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Plant Biology, Status Report
Is Constitutive Red-shift An Advantage For Oxygenic Photosynthesis Under M-dwarf Starlight? Insights From Acaryochloris marina sp. str. Moss Beach
In the next years, several space missions will search for evidence of life on exoplanets, focusing on robust biosignatures associated with oxygenic photosynthesis, including atmospheric oxygen accumulation and the Vegetation […]
Posted inAstrogeology, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Gaia - Planetary Perspectives, Habitable Zones, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Global Abiotic Sulfur Cycling on Earth-like Terrestrial Planets
Sulfur is a redox active element that may have helped mediate an electron flow that kickstarted life and which presently is an essential element for all life on Earth. Despite […]
Posted inBiosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Microbiology & Virology, Origin & Evolution of Life, Status Report
Molecular Clock Evidence For An Archean Diversification Of Heme-copper Oxygen Reductase Enzymes
Age estimates for the emergence of oxygenic photosynthesis derived from molecular clock analyses reach back to the Archean, substantially predating geochemical evidence of persistent, irreversible atmospheric oxygenation following the Great […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics, Habitable Zones, Plant Biology, Status Report
Photosynthetic Exergy I. Thermodynamic Limits For Habitable-zone Planets
Photosynthesis is central to Earth’s biosphere and a prime candidate for sustaining complex life on habitable exoplanets, yet a thermodynamically consistent treatment of the work potential of stellar radiation at […]
Posted inAtmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Habitable Zones, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Status Report, TRAPPIST-1, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Possible Favored Great Oxidation Event Scenario On Exoplanets Around M-Stars With The Example Of TRAPPIST-1e
The Great Oxidation Event (GOE), which marked the transition from an anoxic to an oxygenated atmosphere, occurred 2.4 billion years ago on Earth, several hundreds of millions of years after […]
Posted inAstronomy & Telescopes, Atmospheres, Climate, Weather, Biogeochemical Cycles & Geobiology, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Exoplanets, -moons, -comets, Habitable Zones, Icy Worlds, Imaging & Spectroscopy, Microbiology & Virology, Status Report, Water/Hycean Worlds & Oceanography
Habitable Worlds Observatory Living Worlds Working Group: Surface Biosignatures on Potentially Habitable Exoplanets
The Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO) is the first NASA Astrophysics flagship mission with a key science goal of searching for signs of life on rocky habitable exoplanets beyond our solar […]
Posted inBiophysics, Biosignatures & Paleobiology, Extremeophiles and Extreme Environments, Microbiology & Virology, Panspermia, Radiation, Status Report
Cyanobacteria Under UV Radiation: General Insights Into Stress Responses
One of the first organisms to appear on Earth was cyanobacteria, which carried out oxygenic photosynthesis.