New Light Shone On Photosynthesis

New Light Shone On Photosynthesis

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/04/120403085225.htm


Researchers are trying to discover how plants went from producing no oxygen, anoxygenic, to producing oxygen, oxygenic, in Earth’s early history. The Scientists have found that "In photosynthesis, the oxygen is produced at a special metal site containing four manganese and one calcium atom connected together as a metal cluster." And "This cluster is bound to the protein called photosystem II that provides a carefully controlled environment for the cluster." In Photosynthesis two water molecules bound at the cluster are split into molecular oxygen and four protons. Since water molecules are very stable, this process requires that the metal cluster be capable of efficiently performing very energetic reactions but anoxygenic plants didn’t need to perform energetic reactions so scientists want to know how they were able to evolve from low energy reactions to very high energy reactions.

This can effect people interested in plants and also people researching the evolution of plants