Photosynthesis evolution in Cyanobacteria

Phylogenetics How and when Cyanobacteria evolved the ability to produce oxygen through photosynthesis is poorly understood. Soo et al. examined the genomes of Cyanobacteria and other related bacterial lineages. The phylogenetic relationships of these prokaryotes suggest that the evolution of aerobic respiration likely occurred multiple times. This, along with evidence that the modern photosynthetic system apparently arose through the lateral gene transfer and fusion of two photosynthetic systems, supports a relatively late origin of photosynthesis in evolutionary history. Science , this issue p. [1436][1] [1]: /lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aal3794