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Insights into the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis from a phylogenetically novel, low-light cyanobacterium

Christen L. Grettenberger, Dawn Y. Sumner, Kate Wall, C. Titus Brown, Jonathan Eisen, Tyler J. Mackey, Ian Hawes, Anne D. Jungblut
doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/334458
Christen L. Grettenberger
1University of California Davis, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Davis, CA, USA
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Dawn Y. Sumner
1University of California Davis, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Davis, CA, USA
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Kate Wall
1University of California Davis, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Davis, CA, USA
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C. Titus Brown
2University of California Davis Genome Center, Davis, CA, USA
3University of California Davis, Veterinary Medicine Population Health and Reproduction, Davis, CA, USA
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Jonathan Eisen
2University of California Davis Genome Center, Davis, CA, USA
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Tyler J. Mackey
1University of California Davis, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Davis, CA, USA
4Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences, Cambridge, MA
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Ian Hawes
5University of Waikato, Tauranga, New Zealand
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Anne D. Jungblut
6The Natural History Museum, London, Life Sciences Department, Cromwell Road, SW7 5BD, London, United Kingdom
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Abstract

Atmospheric oxygen level rose dramatically around 2.4 billion years ago due to oxygenic photosynthesis by the Cyanobacteria. The oxidation of surface environments permanently changed the future of life on Earth, yet the evolutionary processes leading to oxygen production are poorly constrained. Partial records of these evolutionary steps are preserved in the genomes of organisms phylogenetically placed between non-photosynthetic Melainabacteria, crown-group Cyanobacteria, and Gloeobacter, representing the earliest-branching Cyanobacteria capable of oxygenic photosynthesis. Here, we describe nearly complete, metagenome assembled genomes of an uncultured organism phylogenetically placed between the Melainabacteria and crown-group Cyanobacteria, for which we propose the name Candidatus Aurora vandensis {au.rora Latin noun dawn and vand.ensis, originating from Vanda}.

The metagenome assembled genome of A. vandensis contains homologs of most genes necessary for oxygenic photosynthesis including key reaction center proteins. Many extrinsic proteins associated with the photosystems in other species are, however, missing or poorly conserved. The assembled genome also lacks homologs of genes associated with the pigments phycocyanoerethrin, phycoeretherin and several structural parts of the phycobilisome. Based on the content of the genome, we propose an evolutionary model for increasing efficiency of oxygenic photosynthesis through the evolution of extrinsic proteins to stabilize photosystem II and I reaction centers and improve photon capture. This model suggests that the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis may have significantly preceded oxidation of Earth’s atmosphere due to low net oxygen production by early Cyanobacteria.

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The copyright holder for this preprint is the author/funder, who has granted bioRxiv a license to display the preprint in perpetuity. It is made available under a CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.
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Posted June 01, 2018.
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Insights into the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis from a phylogenetically novel, low-light cyanobacterium
Christen L. Grettenberger, Dawn Y. Sumner, Kate Wall, C. Titus Brown, Jonathan Eisen, Tyler J. Mackey, Ian Hawes, Anne D. Jungblut
bioRxiv 334458; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/334458
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Insights into the evolution of oxygenic photosynthesis from a phylogenetically novel, low-light cyanobacterium
Christen L. Grettenberger, Dawn Y. Sumner, Kate Wall, C. Titus Brown, Jonathan Eisen, Tyler J. Mackey, Ian Hawes, Anne D. Jungblut
bioRxiv 334458; doi: https://doi.org/10.1101/334458

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