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The Evolution of Chlorophylls and Photosynthesis

  • Chapter
Chlorophylls and Bacteriochlorophylls

Part of the book series: Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration ((AIPH,volume 25))

Abstract

Photosynthesis evolved very early on the Earth, but after respiration, and probably after the metabolic processes for methanogenesis and sulfur oxidation. This occurred in ancestors of anoxygenic photosynthetic bacteria. An ancestral reaction center of Photosystem I and II (RCI/II) type of photosynthesis arose in which a five membrane-spanning helix (MSH) protein bound two molecules of chlorophyll (Chl)/bacteriochlorophyll (BChl) in a special pair and had a Chl/quinone primary acceptor, and this protein fused, early on, with a six MSH antenna protein. Logic suggests that the earliest photopigments were protoporphyrin IX, followed by Mg protochlorophyllide a, followed by Chl/BChl. It is not clear whether Chl or BChl came first. The evolution of the modern RCI type occurred later but it is not clear under what selection pressure it arose, possibly when ferric salts and sulfur compounds became more available in the Proterozoic Eon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Biological Sciences, University of Sydney, Building AO8, NSW 2006, Australia

    Anthony W. D. Larkum

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  1. Anthony W. D. Larkum
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany

    Bernhard Grimm

  2. CSIRO Plant Industry, Canberra, Australia

    Robert J. Porra

  3. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany

    Wolfhart Rüdiger

  4. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Germany

    Hugo Scheer

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© 2006 Springer

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Larkum, A.W. (2006). The Evolution of Chlorophylls and Photosynthesis. In: Grimm, B., Porra, R.J., Rüdiger, W., Scheer, H. (eds) Chlorophylls and Bacteriochlorophylls. Advances in Photosynthesis and Respiration, vol 25. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4516-6_18

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